Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

The three large men gingerly lowered whatever item they were carrying. “Fuck. It’s her,” one of them complained as he and a companion drew guns, one a submachine gun.

“Fuck this,” the third man said. Before his partners could respond, he sprinted away from both them and her.

 

[siobhancan99]

"that's right, it's me" she lashed out with the chain, attempting to both strike and entangle the man with the submachine gun. She'd never been shot by one before, and wasn't terribly anxious to discover how it would feel. "You should run like your friend. He's gonna get away."

 

[Halcyon638]

“I bet you bleed just like all the rest,” the man with the uzi sneered, aiming the weapon at her.

The heavy end of the chain shot out, knocking the 30-something’s head back and sending him to the ground as the metal links wrapped around his now limp, unconscious form.

Shaken for a moment, his partner glanced at him, then back at Monica. Both hands on his pistol, he fired off a shot that sent Monica leaping back behind the vehicle with the slashed tires. She was breathing hard, still a little drained by her show of strength.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica took a moment to just gather herself, she had one shooter, not a great shot, pistol. Not anything she hadn't faced before. So she rested a second, letting him try to come around the van if he had the balls to. If not, she'd then move out.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Hey! Get your asses out here!” the man hollered toward the steel mill. Monica waited, catching her breath. In the distance, she could hear police sirens, though how far in the distant they were was difficult to gauge.

Suddenly, the thug popped around the corner of the van, the nearby lamppost illuminating the sweat on his forehead. He fired a round at close range, which Monica avoided by falling into a crouch just in front of him.

 

[siobhancan99]

"your friends can't save you, mother fucker" she growled. These guys were responsible for turning people into monsters. If they cops weren't on the way she'd consider just offing them. Instead, she sprang upwards, delivering a powerful uppercut to the man's chin "There's only me out here."

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s punch launched the tall man into the air, sending him back several feet with a hard thump. Peering around the corner of the rain-slicked van, she could see two more thugs and Cutthroat exiting the steel mill, lit only by the light from the nearby lamppost. One weaselly-looking man was sporting an uzi while the other thug brandished a pistol. Cutthroat had broken out his knives and was stalking forward with the single-minded focus of a great white.

He swiftly raised one of the blades to point to where Monica was situated near the van.

“Fuck. She trashed one of the vans,” the weaselly man lamented.

 

[siobhancan99]

"and popped the tires on the other. You're never gonna get away from the cops unless you start running now" She gestured towards the sirens "I'd just go ahead and run. IF you're arrested, i'll make sure they let you go after questioning without booking. That way your employers will think you were rats." She moved over to the man she knocked out and grabbed his gun, firing a few shots towards them as suppressing fire, not trying to really hit anyone.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Damn it,” the pistol-wielding thug said. He and Cutthroat began making their way back to the mill, heeding her advice, but the submachine gun wielder snarled with rage and charged forward.

“You gonna let this bitch get away with this?” he said. The graying man fired off a volley of shots. "Bunch o' pussies." Monica popped back behind the vehicle to avoid them, one of the bullets making a hole just above her left thigh.

 

[siobhancan99]

Moves around charging towards submachine guy. She threw her shoulder into him, trying to knock him back and off his feet.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica slammed into him hard. She heard a crunch, then saw him fly to the concrete, completely incapacitated. Cutthroat and the other criminal raced inside the mill, closing the heavy steel door.

The police sirens grew closer, though they were still a few blocks away.

 

[siobhancan99]

The two men seemed ensconced in the mill, and they could be the cop's problem, though she did kinda want to talk to cuthroat. still, that conversation would be better had after viewing whatever it was they were taking out of the mill. She moved over to the bag, opening it up and having herself a quick look. Once she had an idea of what it was, she could question cutthroat about it.

 

[Halcyon638]

Pulling back the wet tarp, Monica discovered a palette filled with large bags of an off-white, powdery substance. Inside, she heard more gunfire followed by a series of screams, each seemingly coming from a different person.

 

[siobhancan99]

She hmmmed, and assumed Cutthroat was probably murdering the help. She moved the tarp into the flipped over van, texting knapp as to its location, then made her way to the mill to look for a way into it to see if she couldn't save whoever was still in there from themselves... not out of the goodness of her heart but because she assumed Cutthtroat had the answers she needed. The knocked out mooks might not.

 

[Halcyon638]

Eyeing the exterior of the mill, aside from the front entrance and the rooftop, Monica spotted a few windows that would give access on various floors, though they might need to be broken open.

A text chimed:

KNAPP: Kid's safe. Do you need me?

 

[siobhancan99]

She hmmmd "might add an air of legitimacy. After all, you hear gunshots. exigent circumstances right?" She saw enough cop shows to know those were somehow magic words. "Keep behind me, try not to shoot the guy with the knives." If anyone had answers, it'd be the arch-henchman. Monica waited till she heard some noise, then broke a window near the door so she could move back that way and maybe let Knapp in.

 

[Halcyon638]

“I’ll say,” Knapp responded. Monica heard another cry of pain and used it as an opportunity to smash the window.

The rain was finally letting up, slowing to a light sprinkle. The detective was soaked from head to toe as he arrived. “Legalese and Spanish? Any other hidden talents I should know about?” he asked, clutching his firearm. "And what's this guy's deal? He a legit threat?"

 

[siobhancan99]

"He's like, top hench level. Fucked me up pretty bad last I saw him, but in my defense it was three on one. I can wipe the floor with him if he doesn't have help and I assume right now he's murdering the help to make sure they don't talk. So. Just make sure he doesn't come at you" She crept through the mill ahead of Knapp, trying to locate Cuthroat by the sound of screams or fighting or whatever.

 

[Halcyon638]

A swath of carnage awaited Monica and Knapp as they passed by the dead. “Fuck,” Knapp said quietly, taking in the bloody trail that had been left.

Monica spotted the bald assassin on the next floor. He was smashing a nearby window, then preparing to vault through it. Outside, sirens grew closer, perhaps less than a block away now.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica charged, trying to wrap herself around Cutthroat and drag him away from the window "nuh uh... Knives.... McGee" she said, hesitating purposefully so it sounded like she didn't remember his name. Taunting the enemy seemed important, and hilarious. It was important to be hilarious. If she couldn't find some fun in making a psychopath feel small, what was she even doing?

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica launched herself into the killer, shoulder digging into him and smashing him hard against a concrete wall. There was a bloody smear as she pulled his face away from it, wrapping her powerful arms around the man, who was sporting a pair of night-vision goggles.

Despite the attack, he was as agile and limber as ever, slipping out of her grasp and getting his hands on his crimson-stained knives as blood poured from his mouth. He feinted toward her with a few slashes, then went for a high, driving thrust that she avoided by leaning up against the railing that looked down to the level below.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Listen stabby stabberton." She feinted with a leg sweep, then brought her foot up, kicking him in the midsection "This ends with me breaking every bone in your body. you don't have your much more talented friend with the laser hands to help you this time." she recovered from the kick, whether it landed or not "tell you what, why don't you just cooperate and tell me what I need to know and maybe I give you a headstart."

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s kick landed. The taciturn assassin finally let out a sound, a loud groan of pain as he collapsed to his knees, knives clattering to the catwalk and over the railing.

He fell to his side, an agonized expression on his face. He began cursing in what sounded like German as Monica heard Knapp just behind her. “You heard the lady.”

Pulling out his radio, he said, “What do you think, Nighthawk? You want me to radio the squad and tell them we’ve got explosive devices on site? That’d buy you at least, 15, 20 minutes of quality time with Evil Mr. Clean here while we wait for the bomb squad to show.”

“What…” Cutthroat began, “What…do you want…to know?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica haunched down "tell them there's a substance in the van and we need hazmat. It's all over in here too, probably." that much was true "we think its whatever turned people into monsters." it was a reasonable precaution and would buy them a little time "So, Cutthroat. I have my suspicions where this all goes but, I want to hear it from you. Who hired you? and what accounts did the money come from? Don't expect you to rattle off the second but i'll bet you can show us on your phone. Because lets face it, this isn't psycho bullshit. You're on a cleanup crew, which is why you tried killing your own men."

 

[Halcyon638]

“Got it,” Knapp said, moving around the corner and placing a call.

“Fuck it,” Cutthroat said, spitting out a thick red clot. “I get extradite to Germany. Who fuck cares?” A smile stretched across his lips momentarily. “He gave me some other name but…Max…Beckett. He is ex-soldier in your Army. Afghanistan. Iraq. I do my research. He pay me. But he is not…what is phrase? ‘Brains behind it?’ There is other man with connection to Beckett. Also military. We soldiers ‘stick together,’ ja? Is phrase?”