Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed and wondered if he'd be deported before he could be tried on murder charges. DHS was trigger happy, but he was also white. She decided not to let him know there was a substantial chance he'd be staying in the country to be executed. Instead she nodded. OF course if it was Vigil they wouldn't just hire direct. Military made sense, and was in line with what the other man had told her "your money comes out of Beckett's accounts? or some LLC or something?" she gestured "i need the banking details. Also, how'd he get in touch with you, and more importantly how were you to get in touch with him?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Cutthroat groaned and sat up, still seeming dazed and breathing hard. “Let me get phone,” he said. He pulled up the device and pulled up an account, showing a transfer of $550,000 from something called Island Song LLC. “He give me phone number,” he said, pulling up a contact on his phone he had labeled as RC. “We never talk in person except for first time. At a bar.”

 

[siobhancan99]

She nodded "what bar?" the man might be a frequent customer "don't suppose you have a picture of him? At least a description?" she pulled out her own phone, noting all the transfer information, the name of the bar and all of that. "and where were you supposed to take that powder you retrieved?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“Bar…I do not remember the bar,” the assassin said. He flicked through his phone and pulled up a tab. “This him.”

The news story read “The Last Grill Owner Files Chapter 11 Following 2nd Lawsuit.” The article from a few years ago showed a picture of a middle-aged Max Beckett, a rugged middle-aged man with mid-length blond hair.

“This is address. Elden Auto.”

 

[siobhancan99]

MOnica took notes, then was about to ask him to come down to meet the cops when she had a follow up "were these men his men or your men?" she gestured around vaguely, meaning the men he murdered. Some were just knocked out, and the cops might get good info depending on the answer.

 

[Halcyon638]

“His,” the killer said. He dragged his finger along his neck. “Was his idea. No talking.” He let out a brief laugh.

The sirens were right outside now. Red and blue lights randomly strafed the interior of the mill.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded "fair enough." It was something to let Knapp know, for when they interrogated the ones that lived "alright get up, come with me. toss your knives and put your hands behind your back. I'm gonna zip tie you and hand you off to the cops, and then I imagine your high priced lawyer will get you on the next plane back to Dusseldorf or whatever"

 

[Halcyon638]

Cutthroat complied, still groaning in pain when making certain movements. Monica secured the man and marched him along the walkway

Knapp joined her as they led the assassin toward the doorway. “You are one sick fuck, you know that?” the detective said.

The German national said nothing.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded to Knapp "no redeeming this one." She shook her head and led him out, filling Knapp in on what she learned "if you let the ones I knocked out know their boss paid to have them whacked at the end, might loosen their tongues. Show them the pictures of the ones in here. you know?" she paused "hey. the kid. he said his friend took some pills from here. you've gotta either get them, or get the kid to tell you where they are so I can get them, or more people are going to turn into monsters."

 

[Halcyon638]

Knapp pulled out a pen and crumpled notepad and scribbled furiously while Monica spoke. “On it. If I need you, I’ll holler at you.”

A slight grin crept onto his face. “You did some good work tonight.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica smiled "you too. I'm glad you're doing well." she resisted the urge to hug him again, as he didn't particularly need to know what a mess she was at the moment. She instead started for the sliver "i better get to their dump site, before whoever is there figures out that this has all gone to hell." She took off, steering for the gas station. she'd go reasonably high at first, trying to get a feel for whether it was occupied or not.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Alright. Watch yourself out there,” the detective said.

It was 1:04 AM when Monica reached Elden Auto and Gas, about as innocuous a location as one could imagine. From a distance, at least, it resembled nothing more than a mid-sized family business. Notably, none of the lights were on near the filling stations.

Circling in the Sliver, Monica spotted no vehicles in the lot or on the curbside spaces nearest to it. The rain had now completely stopped, leaving a slight sheen on nearly every surface.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica brought the sliver down a bit away from the gas station and approached. She thought it might be abandoned, which would make sense. If it was, she could go home and get some sleep before looking up the newest connection, but she had to close the loop on this place first. She made her way quietly towards the building, and if she got close she tried to look inside.

 

[Halcyon638]

The station remained quiet, as did the city block surrounding it. Sneaking closer to the auto shop portion of the establishment, she wasn't able to get a good look inside due to the blinds covering the storefront windows. Listening and waiting for a few minutes, though, she heard no signs of life inside.

 

[siobhancan99]

This made things potentially much easier. She used her lockpick gun to get inside, then looked around. She was looking for any signs of recent activity or items of interest. if there were some, great. if not she'd make her way home.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica crept through the autobody shop. There were a few vehicles in the bays, a red Nissan Rogue and a charcoal Toyota Highlander, along with a few chip bags and empty soda bottles, though nothing to indicate someone had been there very recently.

A close search turned up nothing of real interest. She returned home and fell asleep eventually, still getting used to the sounds of her new home.

Knapp called that evening. “Hey. Sorry if I’m interrupting anything, but I got a few updates. First of all, the kid—the homeless kid. Got him connected with social services—well, I didn’t, but our social worker over here at the station. We also got our hands on the pills that his friend made off with. Those should all be in good hands. This Beckett guy—we hauled him down to the station. Did some digging. He served with this guy in Afghanistan…Russell Katis. He’s CIO or CEO or whatever of Vigil, which just signed that huge security contract with the city after this whole vampire-monster outbreak shit went down. So far, Beckett’s not spilling shit, though. We’re tracing the bank accounts, the account number you gave us, Island Song LLC, all that. I’m willing to bet there’s something there that connects Katis to this whole thing.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Vindication. Sweet fucking vindication. "I worked for Katis and I think he wants to fuck me. So that might be something we can use to our advantage. Honestly, I've been thinking its Vigil this whole time. Cui bono right? so no drug dealer benefits from turning his customers into horrible monsters. not only do you lose the ones you turned into monsters, but you lose others and also the cops start really raiding you. So it had to be someone that benefits from the chaos. That was instantly vigil. Katis is shady as fuck too. I think he faked the interns stealing something in order to find info out about me. Soon as the word came out I was gay, the whole thing went away. I mean. well he doesn't know im bi." she shrugged and cracked open a can of strawberry Dr. Pepper. "if you can't get something from the accounts, maybe take over the complaint he filed about stolen secrets from his pet cops, start digging around Vigil's systems."

 

[Halcyon638]

“Well, this fucker just made it to the top of my list,” Knapp said as Monica alluded to his behavior toward her, barely concealing a simmering rage. “I’ll remember that when we get him in here for questioning.”

Outside, Monica heard one of her new neighbors’ motorcycles firing up. With the semester about 2 weeks away, the residents were starting to trickle back. “That’s good to know. I’ll keep you posted.”

The next update came the next night a little past 9:01 PM as Monica was finishing up Facetiming with Gabi about their upcoming trip.

KNAPP: We got him. Going to go slap some bracelets on him in a little bit.

 

[siobhancan99]

She felt a little like she wanted to be there, and by a little she meant a lot "Katis? Beckett give him up?" she was surprised it went that easily, but gratified. She was a puncher, not a true detective. Maybe some day... After she got through with Gabi she messaged Mina and Shay to just check in on them, then messaged the larger group about having a party when she got back from the beach. She felt weird, they seemed more like Gabi's friends than hers, but... this was who she had. She also texted Mel about coming to see her.

 

[Halcyon638]

The detective replied to her text:

KNAPP: No, he didn’t talk. Shady shit in Katis’s accounts and connections to this Island Song thing. I didn’t quite understand it all but the new partner’s pretty good with all the finances stuff. That knife guy was the mfing key as it turns out. Tonight’s a win. Take them when you can.

The replies to Monica’s group message began to trickle in. It was another Knapp, Hadley, who was among the first to confirm via a DM:

HADLEY: I’m in. Do you need help planning/organizing? How are you holding up? I’ll be back in town on Sunday in case you wanted to get together.

Gabi had only just recently posted that she was going to be attending SUNY-Albany due to “financial reasons” and Monica had gotten a slew of concerned and/or curious messages in response.

A message from Mina also came in:

MINA: Am doing pretty good, thanks! This guy offer to take me to Bali for a week and am considering it. Also had to turn down this wellness brand that want me to promote their supplements. It is kind of painful because they were offering good money but they wanted me to say all this kind of pseudo science stuff and I’m like damn I can’t just sit there and tell people made up stuff How are you? I see you were busy last night.

 

[siobhancan99]

She was happy to take the win. Her personal life was a mess and she got to punch some people, so there being more drama wasn't anything she needed. "THanks Knapp"

"I'm alright. I dont really need help organizing. ill have some liquor, just bring beer or whatever. feel free to bring some of the theater kids. if they're hot. not you know, the weird neckbeards." She didn't want to make too much of it. When people started expressing their concern about Gabi, she gave a very "Gabi had to do what was best for her. I'm sure she's going to kill it up there." deflecting about her own thoughts and feelings about it. It was what it was. It sucked and dwelling on it would not make it suck less.

She was happy to see Mina's message and messaged her back "Yeah well, gotta keep my city safe from monsters. woman's work is never done . You made the right choice. a little money isn't worth your integrity. At the end of the day, you gotta live with yourself. That's why i'm not a supervillain."

 

[Halcyon638]

HADLEY: Whatever helps. Though that rules out half the tech people…

The dryer buzzed, and Monica made her way in.

MINA: If you ever decide to be a supervillain, let me know. You and me could own this city

Through the window, Monica spotted one of her new neighbors. He was her age, with mid-length, mahogany hair and was toting a paper bag overflowing with corn in one athletic arm and a bag of ice in the other.

 

[siobhancan99]

She decided to call that guy 'hot corn guy' in her head. Maybe she'd invite him to her party.

****

A week later, tanned from being at the beach, she sat on the porch of her father's house, wearing a pair of short cut offs and a tube top. She'd gotten her nostril pierced while they were at the beach, and she was wondering to herself if she should take it out for fighting. She heard Gabi coming out to the porch from inside, having gotten herself a drink, and she moved over on the swing, giving Gabi space to fold in next to her.

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi shielded her eyes against the late August sun, clutching her Cottersville High water bottle. “Mom just pulled onto Matthews.” On a busy day, it was a 15-minute drive to Monica’s home. It was a Friday morning, and Sara was on her way, vehicle packed with Gabi’s things.

She sat next to her best friend, resting the plastic against her bare midriff, dressed in a white crop top and purplish-pink shorts. “So…you going to keep this?” The brunette brushed Monica’s piercing with a fingertip. “I think you should.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica smiled "yeah you know i think I am." She wrapped her arm around Gabi, not sure what to say, really. Goodbyes were awful, everyone except her father left her. She never felt like this was a goodbye she"d have to say. Here she was though, seeing Gabi off. Watching her disappear out of her life after 13 years. She harbored no illusions about the finality of it. Gabi couldn't handle who she was. In order for them to be a them again one of them would have to change. Monica watched her mother languish pretending to be less than she was. She knew it wouldn't be her that changed. Gabi loved her enough to gamble their friendship on love, and now she had to love Gabi enough to let her go. To let her find some version of Monica that couldn't do what she could do. Someone that she didn't have to worry about.