Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

Zoe’s eyes widened at the display. She put her hand to her forehead and looked at the ground, as if she was growing faint. “Monica. I…” She let out a brief laugh, sheer bewilderment evident on her delicate features. “How…what…?”

Monica sat her down and told her the story she’d relayed to just a handful of people. “Wow. Okay.”

She rolled her neck on her shoulders as if limbering up for some sort of athletic feat. She put her hand out to take Monica's between her fingers. “Thank you. Thank you for telling me this.”

Zoe brushed aside a lock of her own golden hair. “This much be…so much…to hold onto. Does your…therapist know?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"So. Yeah. Now you know why... Why i'm like. Weird." She shrugged and sat on her desk, looking over at Zoe. "Mom's an alien. I have superpowers. You know, typical teenage angst." She chuckled and shook her head "Mel knows, yeah. She was helping me and Gabi both with it." She shrugged and looked around "Anyway, like. I dunno. It's one of those things I have to be honest about with people in my life who I'm close to, but. It's why Gabi's gone. So. I'm in this weird place where if I find people that want to know the Nighthawk, they probably are going to find Monica Bergenson pretty fucking boring, and if I find someone that really likes Monica Bergenson... They're probably going to lose their shit over the Nighthawk thing. So. Yeah. Great." She rolled her shoulders and tried to dispel the tension in her body. "So. Finding someone to love all of me. Yeah. Maybe not happening. So I dunno. I'm just gonna fuck around and be young and stupid for a bit and see what shakes out I guess."

 

[Halcyon638]

Zoe nodded. “Well…I’m still processing, but…I haven’t lost my shit yet. I guess that’s a good sign.” She managed another smile. “I’m so sorry you’re…dealing with all of this, Mon. I don’t know how you can hold onto all of this. I really don’t.” She bit her lip, and a for a moment, Monica thought she saw her friend on the verge of tearing up.

Zoe looked off to the side, off into space. “I, um…I started an Only Fans page last month. Once I knew I was going to…need help paying for school. As a, um…side hustle.”

She leaned forward in her chair, resting her forearms and elbows on her knees.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica wrapped her arm around Zoe "I take it you don't feel particularly awesome about that." She kissed her temple "Look. Uh. I have some money. From merchandising. And monetizing the nighthawk tiktok and youtube channels. I'm not you know, like a millionaire but. I can help you with school Zoe. You can pay me back after. If you still wanna you know. Do only fans or whatever because you like it, great. But you don't HAVE to do it. How much do you need exactly?" She kept her voice soft, not judging and wanting Zoe to know that if she wanted to keep doing what she was doing she was ok "I mean I could also come on and make out with you or something. But you know, probably better if I just loan you some money."

 

[Halcyon638]

Zoe looked up at Monica in what seemed like disbelief. “That is…so incredibly sweet of you,” she seemed, obviously moved by the offer. “I…thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me.”

She sat up a bit in her chair now. “ But…it’s not…it’s not that bad. So far, I’m making more money in a few hours than I was working, like 20 hours at the store. And sex work is work. Not going to judge anyone else who does this. But…”

Again, Zoe looked off across the room to the nearby window. “The first time I…masturbated on cam. A week ago. I was so nervous. I figured I was going to have to fake it. Like, really act up a storm. And I was, at first. But…instead, I got so turned on. Like, there were 15 people—guys, let’s be real—and just the thought of them watching…”

Zoe blinked twice, as if coming out of a daze. “I’m sorry. You didn’t need to hear that. That is something I’m going to discuss with my therapist,” she said, face several shades redder now.

 

[siobhancan99]

She nodded and kept an arm around Zoe "girl I get you. Gabi watched me suck a guy off in New York and it was fucking hot." She shrugs "Look, if you WANT to do it, do it. You just don't have to do it. Now it's up to you, whether you want to do it or not. So it can be empowering, or you can leave it behind or whatever. Instead of feeling like you don't have any options." She gave Zoe another squeeze, then got up and put the safe away. "So, you know. Your life is your own Zoe. It's not every day we get to feel that way." She let out a little breath "Half the time I don't." She cupped Zoe's cheek "so do what you want to do. While you have options."

 

[Halcyon638]

The petite girl’s body language entirely shifted, losing the tension and the air of defeated it had had just a minute ago. “Thank you. I couldn’t talk to any of my other friends about this, and…” She smiled. “I appreciate it. I appreciate not feeling like there’s something incredibly wrong with me.” She wrapped Monica up in a hug. “Consider this, like, a friend hug, okay?”

She headed downstairs with Monica. “Also, your secret’s safe with me. And if you can talk about anything that comes up and want to, I’m your girl.”

After seeing Zoe safely to the campus shuttle stop, Monica returned home and got a start on some homework. Taking a peek at Nighthawk’s socials, she saw a steady stream of photos of Mina in Bali, sprawled next to glittering, green-blue waters, tropical drink in hand, looking impossibly glamorous, a few photos featuring the well-tanned, generically handsome guy in his early 30s who had invited her.

On her own socials, a photo of her and Gabi popped up, some algorithm reminding her of a memory from years ago.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed and facetimed a bit with Gabi, just reminiscing a little. It hurt, but if she wanted to keep Gabi as a friend it was probably important. Better to preserve the right than to have Gabi fade away into the obscurity of upstate New York. After, she planned a rager for the house, inviting all the social group, and Zoe. She ordered groceries on Amazon so she could make food for it, then suited up and headed out. She wasn't sure where she wanted to go, so she scrolled through local news feeds, the next door app, and listened to her police scanner. During the wait she liked Mina's posts, and dmed her "looking fucking great. Must be nice to be hot enough to score free trips to Bali

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi smiled her way through the video call, talking up a server job she’d secured at one of the area’s few remotely trendy restaurants, but it sounded as though she’d fallen into her usual pattern of working herself to the bone between her employment and her courses.

Monica flew through the skies of Prospect City in the Sliver, descending to bust up a brutal brawl involving six or seven or so combatants but mercifully none toting guns, along with a few other threats. In between, she caught some headlines promoting the upcoming debates between Mayor Lisa Lazzarra and her challengers, the most prominent of which was Jessica Howell, a former high school math teacher running on an anticorruption platform. One such debate was being held at Prospect University the following week.

MINA: Omg you are making me smile so much right now. Maybe you can come with next time?

Monica’s eyes fixed on something suspicious down below. In a darkened parking lot beside a nightclub, she saw what appeared two be three figures in dark clothing dragging someone across the lot toward a black van. It was too far away to make out any more details. She heard the sound of motorcycles revving, and their accompanying headlights turned on, lighting up the sides of the van.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica brought the sliver in close enough she could drop in on the trio, intrigued by the sound of the motorcycle. An accomplice? A friend of the victim? Maybe a new vigilante? a total fucking coincidence? who could say, but all of the possibilities had their own tantalizing nature. She thought about it a moment, and decided whatever it was she would find out best with a dramatic entrance. She brought the sliver in just over the van, then jumped out onto the roof, making sure to make her landing as loud as was humanly possible and hoping she was lit properly in the headlights to look extra cool. Yes, she was petty like that.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s boots made a loud bang on the roof as she slammed downward, just a second after she heard the rear of the van slamming shut. The riders on the two motorcycles flanking the vehicle were sporting black balaclavas, as were the rest of the group; they were also armed. She saw them pulling out weapons shaped like pistols but with something slightly off about them.

The van’s engine started up. The three men in black who had been dragging the person were at the rear of the vehicle, lifting their weapons up toward her on the roof. The motorcyclists were backing their vehicles up but keeping their own weapons aimed toward her.

“Orders?” one of the masked men said in a gravelly voice.

“Engage,” a response came from another.

Monica heard the sound of triggers being pulled back.

 

[siobhancan99]

"well. Shit." perhaps a tactical error on her part. Not perhaps. Genuinely. THe dramatic lightup of the van had, to her mind, suggested conflict between the two groups. Instead there was unity. She grabbed the side of the van, flipping over and smashing the window with her legs to try to get into the cabin. not only would the van potentially protect her from their odd weapons, but she could kill or incapacitate the driver, and turn it into a weapon itself.

 

[Halcyon638]

The driver, also masked, twisted in his seat to try to avoid her feet as she crashed through the window. A moment later, she was inside the cab, pressed on top of him and sandwiched between the steering wheel in his lab. Eyes wide, he tried to uppercut her with a sharp blow, but she managed to angle an elbow to send the attack wide.

Soon after that, two of the group were flanking the side windows of the van; there was limited room in front of it and another car, cutting off attack from that angle. The one standing outside the window she’d just shattered raised his odd pistol.

Pulling the trigger, a projectile of some kind came out with a puff of air. Monica had no choice but to lean into the driver and press herself against him, reclining his seat. The projectile missed and ricocheted within the cabin a bit, giving her a better look. It appeared to be a tranquilizer round of some kind.

The other assailant opened the passenger side door and lifted their weapon to fire.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica wasn't keen to find out if the tranqs would work on her, but she was incredibly curious as to what their end game was. She lashed out with a foot, kicking the passenger side assailant in the chest and trying to knock him out of the fight so she could concentrate on the one next to her and maybe start running people over with the van. "for real you mother fuckers?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica hopped into the passenger side seat, then extended her leg to assault the masked man standing just outside the open door. It connected with his jaw, sending him flying backwards about six or seven feet and dropping him the ground.

The man in the driver’s seat reached over and throw his burly arms around her, trying to grab her. He was strong, but she managed to slip under his grasp, just in time to see another of the group circling around to stand beside the passenger door with his weapon raised.

There was little room to maneuver inside the cab, so when he fired, the dart lodged into her side despite her best attempts to avoid it. She quickly removed it, but almost instantly, something felt wrong. Her limbs began to feel heavy and a slight fog began to fall over her thoughts.

Nearby, one of the motorcyclists was lifting the unconscious masked man onto their vehicle.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica punched the guy who shot her through the window. She didn't imagine that carrying a dead weight unconscious guy on a motorcycle would last past the first turn when he couldn't properly lean, so unless they were planning on just driving straight it didn't seem that big an issue. For now, also, she could find out what was going on by interrogating minions if it came to it. Not getting shot again had to be priority number one though. After throwing the punch, she kicked through the door for the second guy.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s punch hit a layer of body armor underneath her shooter’s clothing. Still, the force of the blow was enough to send him sprawling backwards, where he slammed into the hood of another parked vehicle and tumbled to the ground.

Her kick also connected, dropping the driver to the ground as he attempted to flee.

One of the pair of motorcyclists attempted in vain to drape the unconscious masked man onto his vehicle, then gave him leaving him there. He instead drove his vehicle around behind the van.

By Monica’s count, assuming there had been no assailants inside the van, that left the two on motorcycles and one more, all of whom were currently out of sight in her current vantage point within the vehicle, though she could hear the bikes revving behind the van.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica threw the van into reverse and hit the gas, doing her best to slam into the motorcycles behind. This seemed to be the most efficient use of both her time and the van, as there was a potential twofer there. If nothing else, she'd get a look at what was behind her.

 

[Halcyon638]

The vehicle reversed. She heard a metallic crunch and the tinkling of glass shattering as the van plowed into one of the motorcyles, sending the rider tumbling off across the concrete.

She was now facing the over motorcyclist and another one of the black-clad men, who stood about 20 feet away from the van, clutching the person they’d been hauling across the parking lot in one arm.

The figure was Flashpoint. He was out, looking drugged, resting limply against the masked man’s form, with a pistol—not a tranq gun—pressed to the side of his head.

“Listen up!” the man with the gun shouted. “Stop the vehicle, and step out of it very slowly. Hands on your head. Unless you want this fucker’s brains spread out across this entire parking lot.”

The other motorcyclist waited, tranq gun trained on the cab of the vehicle.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica stepped out of the cab. "you have no imagination. See, you think... if you kill my friend there... that the worst thing that will happen is that I will kill you." She shakes her head "That's what a man would do. I'm not a man. I will, instead ruin your life." She stepped forward a little "First, what will happen is I'll knock you out. Then I'll check your ID and find out who you are. Before you wake up I'll use my super strength to crush your balls like two little grapes, and then I'll turn you over to the police for murder. So, nutless, you'll go to prison. But it won't stop there. See what will happen is I'll then use my knowledge of your identity to find people you love, and I will ruin their lives. Then I'll write you letters in prison, with a picture of the sad person whose life is destroyed because they knew you, and I'll start the letters.... dear nutless... and I'll detail exactly how i ruined your mother or your sister or your first grade teacher or the woman you obsessively stalk online. And it will never, ever end. So. here's my counter proposal. You put the gun down and explain yourself."

 

[Halcyon638]

Throughout her speech, the masked man kept his hand steady and the muzzle pressed against Flashpoint’s shaved head.

“You have until the count of ten to put your hands on your head, get down on your knees, and place your hands on the side of the van,” the man said loudly enough to be heard over the still-active motorcycle, but in a calm tone. "One."

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica put her hands up "hey now. What's your exit plan here buddy? huh? you got one?" She looked over at tranq gun guy "what's to say he doesn't shoot you with that dart, encouraging me to ignore him while he gets away on his motorcycle huh? I mean, you gotta work all the angles don't you?" She hoped tranq gun guy would pick up on the fact he might get out of here "Just help me out here, because I could be wrong, but I feel like you don't have a strategy for what happens after you pull the trigger. So please, why don't you share what you think will happen after that? Walk me through your next steps?"

 

[Halcyon638]

The man on the motorcycle pulled the trigger. A dart came whizzing for Monica’s right leg, but she was able to lift it in time to avoid it. The man holding Flashpoint let him slump to the ground, keeping the pistol aimed at him.

A moment later, the motorcyclist brought his vehicle rumbling over near him. The ostensible leader pulled himself onto the back of the motorcycle.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica unfurled the chain from her waist "you drive away now, you get to live. You shoot that gun at him or at me, well" She knew they couldn't carry Flashpoint and each other on the bike, and so she just held her ground, watching and waiting for them to drive away, but also taking note of the plate if there was one on the bike.

 

[Halcyon638]

The lead motorcyclist eyed her for a moment, then revved up the vehicle. They sped off into the night, leaving the burly, fugitive Brit lying on the concrete. Judging from his breathing, he was still out hard.

Two patrons, a 20-something man and woman, exited the club near where she’d first spotted the masked men dragging Flashpoint. They didn’t yet seem to notice the downed men due to the dim lighting of the parking lot.