Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

“Oh shit,” the man says as he catches sight of her mask. “It’s you. Yeah, I’ll be happy to help you out,” he says, a nervous grin stretching across his face. “Free of charge, okay? Just, uh…I don’t want any trouble or anything.”

“Yeah, I saw that dude around here on the reg,” he said. “Seemed decent enough though he was pretty fucked up the last couple a times. I, uh…you hate to see that happen to anybody. I want my customers to enjoy themselves, you know? Last I heard he was going to visit his buddy who just got out of jail.” He looked skyward, brow furrowing as if trying to remember. “Fuck, I knew this guy from back in the day—he used to date this girl from my high school that all the guys wanted to... Uhh…Kearns, that’s it. Derek Kearns. Don’t think he has any dogs, though. Or a tiger.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Shrugging, she put the money away. "so this Kearns. Where might I find him? or who might know where to find him?"

She had a lot on her plate tonight, as while she was changing she found the gun she took off those guys from the bar that turned out to be innocent. She had to run over there too and return it since they seemed alright. Still though, best to get on this trail while it was hot. "I'm really not wanting to hear another corpse turned up. Though I guess in this rotten city that's inevitable. Still, to the extent I can keep your customers alive well... That's the goal. I don't harbor any illusions anyone is going to just say no or start getting high on the love of Christ, so I'll settle for them not being viciously ripped apart and call it a day."

 

[Halcyon638]

“I think Davis mentioned Kearns lived over in Benjamin Park,” the dealer said, referring to the neighborhood adjacent to the park in which Monica had encountered some criminals and not, presumably, the park itself. Although it narrowed it down a bit, it was still a sizeable neighborhood in a large city. “That’s all I got,” he said, holding his hands out, palms up, and shrugging. “You have a good night, now."

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded. Well, first she'd try to cyberstalk Kearns a little, and she'd head over to the park area and see if any of the ne'er do wells outside had any notion of where she might find him. Getting back to the ship she set course for the park, then fished out her phone and started looking up kearns social media, trying to see if he had any indication of where he might be found, like going to a particular club or if she could do an image search for buildings in his photos. She was itching to get a lead, but this one might actually take a call to a certain detective and that meant buying a burner phone then getting rid of it after. She wasn't made of money, after all.

 

[Halcyon638]

On a somewhat sketchy site that aggregated public records, Monica ended up finding 3 possible hits for the name in Prospect City, but one was a female under “D. Kearns” and one was approaching 80 years of age. There was another Derek Kearns, 30, whose last known address on file was 117 Mazzuchelli Road, Apartment 205, squarely located in the Benjamin Square area. Her search also brought up a two-year-old news article citing Kearns being charged with multiple accounts of narcotics possession and intent to sell, for which he served two years.

When she arrived at the scene in the Sliver (she was going to have to remember to ask her father to put in some AC, as a confined space and even light body armor didn’t go well with this late summer heat), she spotted a row of drab-looking, beaten up apartment buildings. The navigational tools in the craft allowed her to pinpoint which building was 117 even from this height.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sat in contemplation for a long moment. Kearns might have every reason in the world to talk to her, but he might also have every reason in the world NOT to talk to her. This was a bit of a quandry, as she couldn't put a man on him to follow him like she was a cop or anything. She needed a super hero team. A society of justice or something. She frowned at that though as everyone would assume she was part of some left wing group. A society of crime fighters. There. that was better. She parked the sliver over a building and got out. First things first, she looked around for who might be outside. Asking around about Kearns might tip him off but it might give her useful intel.

 

[Halcyon638]

As Monica watched the building, a small figure walked stumbled down the front steps. At one point, it looked as if they were doubling over in pain, and then a few second later, they pressed their face into their hands and let out an anguished, though muffled, cry. When Monica descended a nearby fire escape to get closer, she saw that it was a petite, dark-haired woman in a white camisole and black jeans. The woman began to shuffle down the sidewalk. Down the street, one or two people glanced in her direction but then retreated into their buildings.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica approached the woman cautiously, though trying to outpace her. She kept an eye on the shuffling woman. Either she was having some sort of medical issue, or maybe she was some sort of zombie killer or something. Probably the first, but you never knew. Anyone else would assume that she herself wasn't as strong or as quick as she was. As she approached, she took note of the woman's gait and so on and so forth. Still, as she approached she let out cough to announce her presence "lady...you ok?"

 

[Halcyon638]

The woman lifted her head. Her large, dark eyes were reddened and her face was contorted in an expression of sheer anguish. She looked to be anywhere from her late twenties to mid-thirties; if she was on the younger end of the spectrum, she had seen some hard times, evidently. “D-D-Derek,” she said, the words not coming easily. “He’s…d-dead.” Her body was wracked with another wave of sobs. “S-Something…oh god! Derek!”

“I saw her…it. She—it wasn’t human,” she sobbed, doubling over again. “It has these…these fucking teeth! And fingernails…like fucking claws! What the fuck was that?!?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"Well.... FUCK" she kicked a nearby rock, then realizes she's probably not being helpful. She gently took the girl in her hands "You're safe. I'm the girl from the news." she really has to come up with a name. It would be easier if the media would name her, and if she hates it she could... no. They'd never ditch whatever stupid name they had for her. There had to be some way to workshop this thing without clueing people in that she was the actual vigilante herself. Work on that later, she reminded herself. 'Hysterical woman is telling about a monster' so she leaned in "so did it look human at first? tell me what happened from the beginning. every little detail helps so, just inhale... exhale... see what you can remember. Also we should call the police. Do you have your phone on you?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“N-No, please,” the traumatized woman said. “Don’t call the cops…yet. I’m on parole and they could throw me back in for…for seeing Derek.” She bit her lip and took a deep breath, as if willing herself back to something resembling composure. “Derek and I…we were having a fight. He’s only been out six months and he’s already gotten himself hooked again on something—that Swat shit. He got all mad at me…said I thought I was better than him for getting clean.”

She wiped her eyes again. “I just went down to the bodega to grab some cigarettes. Thought…thought he’d cool down by then. Maybe we could talk, you know? And then I found him…and it was there. He was ripped to shreds. It looked like a girl but it has this….this fucked up monster face, you know? Her clothes were all ripped to shit and she was covered in his blood. She—she had brown—light brown hair. And a tattoo…it was like, a golden bell or something. On her arm.”

“I only saw her for a few seconds. Thought…thought she was going to come for me next, but she just jumped out the window like a….like a fucking animal. You must think I’m fucking crazy.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica laughs and points at her mask "lady I put on a weird outfit and fight crime. I'm not really in a position to judge." She hmmmed "alright. light brown hair, monster face. Tattoo of a golden bell. A few quick questions. Where on the arm was it? Like shoulder? wrist? forearm? bicep? Did the bell have the little clapper you know, the ball thing that sticks out of the bottom or not? I just want to be able to be as thorough as I can when I'm looking for this girl. Your friend deserves some justice, and I think we both know the cops aren't gonna look too hard for her. Also, what side of the building did she jump out of?"

Monica assumed that the girl's landing might leave tracks, unless she hit the cement. Still worth checking out.

 

[Halcyon638]

The woman scrunched up her face as if forcing herself to think harder. “It was on her right—no, left bicep. I…I don’t remember about the ball thing. Maybe?” She pulled out her phone in what seemed like a reflex. “She…Derek’s apartment faces the back. She went out the back window. But that was…5, 10 minutes ago? Fucking fast.” She sniffled.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed. Derek was almost certainly dead. Calling 911 wouldn't help him and it might get her embroiled in shit. "Right. On with you then." She could stop and get a burner phone maybe tomorrow and call hot cop. For now she had to make her way around the building. She used the remote to send the sliver across to the other side, figuring worst came to worst she could do a general sweep of the area for people running in terror from some terrible monster. She hoofed it around the building, looking at the lay of the land to see if there was anything that might tell her how the woman got away. If there wasn't, she could always revisit calling hot cop.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Be c-careful,” the woman said, patting Monica on her shoulder. She glanced back once more at the apartment building and then began walking away at a faster pace than before.

Monica slipped down a reeking alleyway and made her way behind the apartment building. She found some bloody splotches that looked to be footprints leading down the alleyway that ran behind the apartment building. The blood trail continued for about 100 feet until they reached a dumpster. A dirty, tattered tarp coated in crimson was crumpled up alongside one of the alley walls and the trail dropped off aside from a few specks of blood. Whatever the thing was, it had apparently retained enough of its intelligence to do a decent enough job covering its tracks, though Monica did notice a strand of the aforementioned light brown hair, partially coated in blood.

The alleyway itself opened up onto another city street that seemed to be all but deserted at the moment.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed. If she was batman she'd have a fancy computer to analyze all this stuff. She wasn't batman. She wasn't even Robin. She was like... not even the guy with the bow from the movies. To be fair she was taller than that guy but he had a bow. She muttered darkly "better leave this to the pros." She took some pictures of the footprints, in case they revealed nonhuman feet but she guessed in better light they'd look like shoes. she even snagged a hair and put it in a little baggie she had for evidence, though she was entirely unsure what she'd do with it. Maybe see if some nerd in the biology department could tell her if it was human. She figured it was. Still.

She made her way to a walmart at the edge of town and bought a phone, then texted hot cop "this is the vigilante girl. We need to talk. This phone will have a battery in it for 20 more minutes."

 

[Halcyon638]

Just a minute later, the phone began to ring, with Brendan Knapp’s phone number displayed on the screen. “Hey,” he said, sounding more alert than the last time she’d contacted him, when it’d been well past midnight. “What’s going on? You alright?” In the background, she could faintly hear the sounds of other people talking. "I can be on the road in 5."

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmms "I'm safe. You know that weird murder last night? There's been another." She gives the address. "I was headed to interview him when I ran into a woman outside screaming. She told me a woman who looked like a monster did it. Before you say monsters aren't real, I can juggle you like a ball and a dude with magic lightning gloves attacked me two weeks ago so... I'm inclined to believe. There's a blood trail leading out of the alley but I lost the trail. There's blood and hair on a dumpster. Also, she gave me a description of a tattoo. Golden bell, supposedly left bicep but maybe the right. Anyway, for obvious reasons I can't like.. hang out and wait for you guys to come or call 911 directly." She gave the victim's name and address as well.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Yeah, I’m on the phone with a masked vigilante crimefighter, so I’m a little more open to possibilities than I was a couple of weeks ago,” Detective Knapp said, lowering his voice. “Derek…Kearns. Got it. That’s not too far from where the other guy was murdered. The woman—the witness. Who was she? She give you a name?”

He sighed. “As if this city didn’t have enough problems without this Mulder and Scully shit.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica pauses a minute "um.... what's Mulder and Scully?" then launches on "She didn't give a name. She's Kearn's girl and she's worried fucking him violates her probation. She went out to the store or some shit and came back and saw the end of it. Evidence in the alley supports her story. I decided not to fuck up your crime scene so I haven't been inside. Just a hunch, maybe we should look at missing persons for the tattoo? I dunno. Like... maybe its some sort of mad science experiment right? The lightning dude had this whole getup. He killed that tech bro with it. Like a crazy helmet and all sorts of shit so... We're living in mad scientist times or something. Im guessing the blood in the alley belongs to Kearns, but the hairs on the dumpster are probably hers. Dunno anything about DNA but maybe you can get something from it? I'm not really batman. I'm like...Patrick Swayze in Road House."

 

[Halcyon638]

“They were on a good show back when they were maybe 3 good shows on TV. Anyway, if you wanted to make me feel ancient, job well done,” the detective said in a good-natured tone. “Hmm,” he said as she discussed the witness’s situation. “Any chance I can get a description? It sounds like there should be plenty of evidence even without an account but I’d like to be able to find her if anything doesn’t add up.” He paused. “I promise I won’t drag her into this unless I smell something fishy.”

“Yeah…experimentation. That makes sense. A buddy of mine used to work security at HelixCorp and he told some stories. We thought he was mostly full of shit, but…” Detective Knapp said, his cell phone reception getting a little staticky. “Will get the science-types on it. Wow, you do know Road House? So there is hope for the next generation.”

Monica heard him take a swig of something. “Did you bum someone else’s phone again or do you want me to…keep you updated on this? I promise you aren’t going to get any texts from me at random hours of the night. Can’t promise I won’t text you pics of the dog, though.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica laughed into the phone "no i bought a burner, and no offense but I'll only have a battery in it when I'm in the field. It's not you I'm worried about, it's... you know. Anyone else who might take an interest. It's fine if you want to send me a picture of your dog. I like them but my mother hated them so we never had one. I wanted a golden lab." She gave a description of the girl as best she could "Anyway sounds like tonight I've found out all I'm gonna find out." She was a little disappointed she didn't get to work out some issues with a little physical action. Still, it might be best if she learned how to fight before she encountered this monster, not that a few weeks training would help much. Still. Tomorrow she'd look for Krav Maga classes or something. "So yeah please keep me in the loop on this. texts or voicemails are fine. When the phone is on I'll let you know. Gotta go anyway."

She got off the phone, then opened up the back of the phone and popped the battery out so it couldn't be tracked. she dumped it in the sliver then headed home. She changed on the roof, then slipped in and tossed her things in the corner. She had a shower as she was gross from the humid air and the suit that didn't exactly breathe. She'd wanted to get into some trouble tonight, but she had a notion that this was big trouble and she was just at the edge of it. Maybe the biggest trouble. Government trouble. Weapons research or something.

She tossed and turned a bit, thinking on all the possibilities, then finally ssank into sleep.

 

[Halcyon638]

By the time Monica awoke, Gabi had left the apartment, her friend having an earlier start time than her on Thursdays. She’d needed every bit of sleep, and was glad she’d allowed herself to sleep in, considering the full day she had ahead of her: a quiz in Engineering Design & Communication, “lunch” with Austin, Psych, then the audition at 5:30. She and Austin were texting back and forth about whether to do an early brunch-ish thing or a late lunch thing since her classes ran from 11:30-2:30 with only a brief gap in between.

“I’m good either way,” he texted. “Also, my place or yours?”

A moment later, Gabi sent her a link to a list of people she was inviting. It was the usual suspects from their group text along with Shaun and a couple of people from the Latino Student Association and Gabi’s classes. “Let me know if there’s anyone to add!”

It was an overcast day and the wind seemed to be picking up. A storm was on its way.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica settled on late, so she could get to her quiz and maybe review for it since she didn't last night, galavanting about the town as a superhero. She looked at gabi's list and texted back "Do we have the space for more people? If everyone shows it's going to be more stand around with drinks in our hands than game night as it is." She considered a moment, then asked Austin to pick up a few half-gallon bottles of rum and vodka just in case game night turned into party night. She groaned over her bank balance dwindling and seriously considered the next time she beat up some Russian mobster taking his money clip as a douchebag tax.

She threw on fishnets a plaid skirt, black knee high boots and an Iron Maiden T-Shirt. She didn't particularly care for the band (they were Tom's favorite) but she loved the shirts with the weird zombie guy on them. She threw a small umbrella in her bag along with her laptop and headed off to her quiz.

In between classes she grabbed a chicken salad from a food truck and scarfed it down. She made it to psych a bit early, and dragged the shy Porter to sit in the front of the class. "It will be good for you. You're coming to game night tomorrow right?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi replied to Monica’s text. “OMG you’re right. Do you think I invited too many people? Should I tell someone not to come?” Monica could practically hear the anxiety radiating from her text.

A few moments later, Austin replied to her text about the alcohol. “Done. That’ll be my contribution so at least I’ll be there in spirit (or spirits???). Still sorry I’ll miss hanging with y’all.”

Porter initially seemed more than a little distracted by Monica’s outfit. “Y-Yeah. I’ll be there,” he said, keeping his eyes on his closed textbook cover as he responded.

Melanie Howe entered the classroom a bit later than usual, just a moment or two before class began. As she took her spot behind the computer station that controlled the projector, she caught sight of Monica in the first row, and a smile began to spread to her lips. She looked down at the computer station. “Good afternoon,” she said in her teacher voice, projecting to the back rows, then began the day’s discussion on variables, reliability, validity, and ethics in psychological experiments.

At the end of the class, Monica found she’d received another text from Austin: “want you to know I actually cleaned my apartment this week if you wanted to try my place. We can give your poor little bed the day off. Also we can order in if you haven’t grabbed something already.” Melanie approached the front door, handing back short assignments from the week before.

“Monica,” she said, handing her back a paper marked with a 98 before moving on to the next student.