Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

“I think you would make a good Adrienne,” the guy said, voice shifting to a British accent. His body language seemed to relax as well. “She’s the one who calls everyone else on their shit and I think is, like, the stand-in for the writer. So she gets all the best lines.” Nick started making his way back over.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to make you the…guinea pig for my generic American accent. Wasn’t total shit, was it? You can tell me. Haven’t spent much time in small towns—traveled a lot, though--but my best friend was from East Anglia, which is like, farm country, and she got a lot of the same shit thrown at her. Backwards, slow, all of that.”

Nick strolled over, looking at his phone. “I think you’re right—the ‘genuine place thing,’ ” the man said, slouching a bit more against the window frame now. “I just heard the accents and got a bit too much in my head.”

Nick glanced up and offered a “hey.”

“I’m Cameron,” the bearded guy said. Nick responded by introducing himself. “So…what do you two do when you’re not hanging out at auditions you're not actually auditioning for?"

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica decided to be a little cheeky "we dress up in super suits and fight crime. All the kids are doing it" She grinned "Your American accent was pretty good actually. You could totally pass. Mid-Atlantic." She nodded "I'm Monica. So are you like, a drama major or are you just in it for something to do? We're here to support our friends. Hadley who is super into this, and Porter who I made do it so she didn't have to do it alone." She briefly considered the irony of Porter getting a part and Hadley not. She hmmmed "maybe not the best idea. Still, spilled milk and all that. Also, very kind of you to say I should be the juiciest part, but I'm sort of holding out hope for my friend to get that."

 

[Halcyon638]

A full-fledged grin flitted across his face for the first time. “I’ve heard,” he said. “We Brits get to play all your superheroes, though, so be prepared for your masked vigilante to be played by Kate Winslet.”

“Ooh--Margot Robbie,” Nick chimed in.

“Not one of ours, mate,” Cameron noted. “Thank you,” he said in response to her comments on his accent. “To be honest, if you’d said it was shit, I would have been destroyed. One of my acting teachers a few years ago told me my accent was ‘absolutely brutal.’”

“Yes, I am a drama major. The department’s staging The Crucible this fall but sophomores have very little chance of beating out the upperclassmen for top parts, so I’m auditioning for this. What are your majors?”

“Computer science,” Nick said.

“I hope your friends get parts,” Cameron said, looking over at the line as Hadley was called into the conference room. “If they do, will you, um…continue to support them at rehearsals and such?” He glanced at Monica as he asked the question.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Engineering. And I might stick around to build sets or something. I don't have time to throw into being here for all these rehearsals and stuff but I can pick up a hammer for a few hours here and there. I like working with my hands. "So I mean, you brits have a great stage tradition. What made you come to Prospect City of all fucking places to study theater? Were you wanting to experience the brutal reality of American Urban life for your one man re-enactment of Netflix's 'The Punisher' or something?"

She leaned forward a little as she watched the line "and are you like, hanging back or did you already register or audition or whatever?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“Engineering? Good, honest work, that is. I’m waiting to give my name until late,” Cameron said, lowering his voice a bit. “Figure if I give a halfway decent performance near the end of the thing, they’ll be more likely to remember. So, about that—I’d actually been living here for most of secondary…high school. My mum teaches in the Business school here which covers my tuition, and my dad said, quote, ‘I’m not paying 80,000 pounds for you to play make believe.’ So, that was that.”

Porter was called into the conference room next. “Aww, I thought we were going to get a chance to go in there with them and cheer them on or something. Guess that would be distracting,” Nick said.

“You can talk them up after they get out,” Cameron noted. “I’m sure they’d appreciate that.”

Looking over toward the conference room, Cameron said, “I should get in line.” Looking at Monica, he said, “So, I think our department’s looking for a work-study student. Stagehand-type stuff, I believe. I could look into it for you.” He dug in his pocket for a moment and produced a pen, then opened up his copy of The Idiot to a random page. “In between phones right now so will have to go old-school if you want me to take down your information. I promise this is not a pick-up. You can tell me to go fuck off."

Hadley emerged with an unreadable expression on her face.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica put her campus email in the book "I'm mostly in this to support my friend so if she gets the part I'll help out, but I COULD use the money so... doing it for a job might not be a terrible thing." With what she ate, and what she was spending being the vigilante ... in her head she kept imagining a huge mob score or something where she also got to run off with a hoard of ill gotten mafia cash but... work study was probably more realistic. 'more realistic than an alien fighting crime?' she thought, and had to suppress a laugh.

She looked over at Hadley and arched an eyebrow "hey Hadley. This is Cameron. His parents are paying for him to play pretend" She winked "he's a drama major. Cameron, Hadley. How'd it go chica?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“Drama major? That is so cool,” Hadley said, earnestly.

“Is it, though?” Cameron said, looking more than a bit embarrassed and closing the paperback. “Good meeting you,” he told the group, then headed toward the line where only four other hopefuls remained.

“I think it went well?” Hadley said.

When Porter made his way out, Hadley shouted, “Porter!” and ran over, giving him a hug. “You did it!”

As the four of them made their way out of the building, the skies opened up and it began to pour. By the time they made it to a small Mexican restaurant just off campus, they were all soaked and laughing from the adrenaline of running in the rain and lightning. There they met up with Layla, who had saved them one of the few tables in the small restaurant.

“You know, Porter auditioned tonight,” Hadley said very pointedly to Layla. The equally shy art student smiled.

“Nice. Maybe I’ll get to say I knew you before you were famous,” she said, and Porter blushed.

“Maybe I can autograph your sketchbook,” he said, clearly delighted at the attention. “You can…sell it on eBay someday.”

Monica received a text from Austin. “Thought I might catch you this evening. Dropped off the adult beverages you asked me to pick up for your party case we’re actually heading out to NYC earlier than expected tomorrow and don’t know if I’ll have time to drop them off after Physics. Hope you had a fun night out.”

“So what’s up with cute British guy?” Hadley asked Monica.

“I was honestly offended that he was hitting on Monica and not even considering that she and I might be a thing,” Nick said. “I was right there. And the whole quirky ‘I don’t even have a phone thing.’ Played. Out.”

After a hearty meal that saw Hadley flirt a bit with a handsome server, Monica made it back to her apartment. The storm had turned into a steady, cold drizzle. The rum and vodka were on the table alongside a single 16 oz Dr. Pepper. Gabi was on the couch, asleep, a biology textbook resting on her stomach.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica rolled her eyes "Yeah it was cheesy. Who doesn't have a fucking phone? between phones? like you should be ...between phones from the time you drop it in the toilet till you can get to the apple store." She ate some chips and dug into some tongue tacos "Not as good as Gabi's mom" she pronounced, but that was typical of her eating mexican. Gabi's mom was the gold standard. "I'm sorry that he assumed you weren't my boyfriend. It might be the fact that you completely ignored me the whole time. You know, like always. Between you and Porter I think I get a conversation's worth of words every two weeks. Anyway I might build sets as a job for the drama department."

She texted Austin "sorry. I'm... totally wet though" She took a picture of her soaked t-shirt "thinking of you.haha"

She got out of her wet clothes and into a robe, then put the booze away. She contemplated blowing off class the next day. She also had to check her phone to see if Hadley's dad left a message about the monster girl. If he did, she might have to head back out tonight. She sighs at the thought of it, but sits next to Gabi on the couch. She gently shook her awake, "Hey beautiful" she said softly "if you sleep out here you'll be stiff and miserable in the morning."

 

[Halcyon638]

At the taco joint, Nick’s face reddened and his eyes widened at Monica’s response. It was the closest she’d seen to an emotional response from the perpetually blasé, boyish sophomore. Hadley made a comment about the guac seemingly to try to smooth over any awkwardness.

Austin responded to Monica's text. “Aww such a tease” he wrote with a winking emoji. “Coffee before class tomorrow?”

Gabi awoke with a soft yawn. “Oh, hey,” she said. “You’re soaked! I totally remember thinking I needed to nag you to take an umbrella.” She stood up, stretching. “So…did Austin tell you he was buying us alcohol? I was sort of freaking out when he dropped it off but didn’t want to look like a total nerd. I honestly don’t know if I feel comfortable having that much in our place. What if someone calls the cops on us? And I don’t even know if we have any real drinkers coming. Am I overreacting like I usually do? I think we are going to have a manageable guest list, at least."

Hadley’s father had left a terse “Call me” on Monica’s burner phone. When she was sure Gabi had headed off to bed , he answered, “Hey. You might want to sit down for this.” He paused. “Fuck, where to begin. First of all, they were able to track down your bell girl from prints on the tarp. Name’s Allie McKenney, age 31. Comes from a wealthy family, spent a lot of time overseas. A few years ago, she gets hooked on basically the proto-Swat while partying in Czechoslova—the Czech Republic. Apparently, she got so fucked up she almost ends up killing a girl over there and gets deported here. From what I hear, Swat is basically the perfected version of whatever they were cooking up over there.”

He paused for a moment. “McKenney’s been in and out of psych and rehab facilities ever since. That’s your normal, run-of-the-mill perp stuff. Here’s where it gets really, really fun. First, the hair samples come up fucked up—something about her genes or genetic code or being altered. Then, there’s the cherry on top—apparently, our vics were missing their kidneys.”

“Now, don’t get me wrong,” the detective said, “I’ve seen some weird shit in my day. Mutilations, a decapitation—some poor bastard whose cat ate half his face. But I don’t even know where to begin with this. I figured maybe she was preying on Swat users, which, at least is a pattern. But the first vic had, like, six hits of it sitting on his coffee table. And if she had suddenly decided to go the Hannibal Lecter route, why go with kidneys? I’m all open to crazy theories and wild speculation, so feel free.” He let out a deep sigh. "It's been one of those days."

 

[siobhancan99]

"So you'll go to Shaun's where there's literally kegs full of beer, but we can't have some in our apartment?" Monica arched an eyebrow and toussled Gabi's hair "if people don't drink it then we have it. Nobody is calling the police on us for a misdemeanor, and I'm 100 percent sure that if they did they'd be laughed at. They're not sending the swat team over the fact that two adults have a bottle of liquor in their apartment." She rolled her eyes "I love you but you're anxiety is at a ten and I need you at a two."

After getting Gabi to bed, she called Detective Hadley's-dad.

Monica considered a minute "Ok, keeping in mind that I'm not you know, an expert on anything other than punching people...A few things leap to mind. First, could she have been mutated by the drugs? Like is there something in Swat that might you know, affect people on a cellular level? Like what if its some sort of chemical weapon or something put together by enemies of the US or something and spread here and like, it eventually turns people into monsters? OR... maybe she's like, hardcore in need of money so she agrees to undergo some sort of weird sci fi like... process or whatever and she becomes a collector? like the dudes that got killed were swat dealers right? So maybe this is um. You know some next level Eastern European mob shit? Also maybe her kidneys are failing. Or someone else's are. Kidneys are like, part of the body along with the liver that deal with toxins. Liver metabolizes and kidneys uh.. you know. work to eliminate. So maybe like...she needs a kidney? I dunno man. I honestly do not know. I have a feeling too that if the government knows. I mean like... the Federal government obviously not the municipal government... they probably aren't gonna tell you. Maybe you should hook up with someone in Bio at the University and see if they can tell you if Swat is capable of mutating people. Or what would be. Like if its ... some kinda machine or something like.... well fuck I don't know man."

Monica paced a bit and wanted very badly to be out on the street. The problem was it was raining and she had no way of finding monster girl. She was out of commission until Saturday too, since they were having people over.

"Any leads on where the monster girl might be shacking up?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Hadley’s dad listened to Monica’s theories. “Yeah, this could be above my paygrade. I wouldn’t be surprised if the feds take over eventually, but for now, the higher-ups think the hair is just a lab fuck-up and the kidney is just some amped up Swat-head getting a little too excited. In the meantime, I’d like to try to cap her body count at two, though maybe that’s too much to ask.”

“As for leads, we’re looking into some friends and family. Troopers are checking out a cabin the family owns about two hours outside of the city and I’m checking out someone in Gilliam Heights who was texting with our second vic. Nothing that seemed directly related to McKenney, but may be a connection to the Swat supply chain.” There was the sound of a car door slamming shut. “Hold on a sec.” Monica could hear the rain in the background.

“Maybe you should check out Founder’s Square. If she’s gunning for Swat addicts, that’s pretty much buffet-style dining over there. Just be careful, okay? I know you’re good with the punching but I’d like to make sure you keep both of your kidneys.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed. He was right. She could hit founder's square. In this miserable fucking rain. Gabi was asleep, she didn't have tests tomorrow. She could... not blow off physics because she wanted to see Austin and at least get in a little smooching. Fuck. She could nap in the afternoon and clean for the party and maybe make some dip. She was worried that Gabi was mad about the booze too so maybe just focus on food and have the booze in case people wanted but make it low key. Adulting was hard.

She got into her suit, then summoned the sliver from the roof. Through the driving rain she made her way to founder's square, figuring only the worst of the addicts would be out in this weather. The worst of the addicts and maybe a monster. She nestled into a darkly lit corner and sat to watch.

 

[Halcyon638]

A cool wind was picking up, driving the way slightly sideways. It definitely felt September asserting itself after the hot weather they'd had recently. The neighborhood itself seemed mostly quiet. After what seemed like hours but was probably closer to 30 minutes, the silence was disrupted by the sound of sirens. Adjusting her position on the roof to allow her a better vantage point, Monica saw an ambulance speeding toward a block of apartments. After it rolled to a stop, a seemingly distraught man was motioning inside the building, and two EMTs rushed in.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed "well fuck" She made her way across the roofs. She assumed if the EMTs were there already, that meant that the scary girl was gone. Still she might be lurking somewhere nearby. Of course it could also be someone got too drunk and fell down the steps. Still, best to be careful. She made her way through the block of apartments, looking for an open window, or glass on the ground... or hopefully blood or a wounded monster girl. Still she didn't hold out much hope. She'd probably always be a day late and a dollar short. Maybe she should buy a bunch of Swat and see if that attracted her prey. Still... didn't hurt to look around at all.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica was leaping the short gap between two buildings when she saw the EMTs emerge with a man on a stretcher. From what she could see, there didn’t seem to be any blood, though there was now an oxygen mask attached to his face. The two emergency responders hustled him out, the larger of the two heading backwards down the front staircase.

Monica then spotted a shadowy figure quickly climbing down the front of the building. It all but skittered down quickly, then leapt onto the top of the ambulance. The seemingly unsuspecting EMTs went about their business, opening up the back of the vehicle while the figure crept to the edge of the ambulance’s roof, giving Monica a good look at it in the still flashing siren lights: about 6 feet in height, with lanky, wiry strong arms, a wild mane of long, tangled hair, clawed fingers, and a face that looked like some cross between a werewolf and a vampire. The figure was wearing a soiled tank top and a ratty pair of jeans with no footwear.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica pressed the button on the remote to summon the sliver, as she might need it to follow this thing if it starts getting away. She runs at the ambulance, wondering if maybe this chick is a vampire thing now, that was a swat addict and she can only get high with swat infused blood, like some sort of super sad undead junkie. She hoped not, both for the tragedy of it and she wasn't really prepared to live in a world where magic was real. Still. Could be. Aliens probably were beyond what most people WANTED in a world and well... she existed. So her biases against magic... well she might have to deal. Still, she kept her eyes on the creature as she ran through the rain, splashing in the puddles on the way, heedless as she needed to get there before it attacked an EMT.

 

[Halcyon638]

The creature snarled and leapt downward, aiming for the female EMT. “Get down!” the male EMT, a burly, dreadlocked man who looked to be in his late twenties cried out, throwing himself in front of his partner. The strange woman lashed out and the EMT shouted, grasping his stomach as he fell to his knees beside the man on the stretcher, a bloody wound now stretching across the responder’s stomach.

The creature/woman was now standing above the man on the stretcher, cocking its head as if sizing him up with its yellow-tinted eyes. The female EMT backed away from the figure, still seemingly in shock as Monica closed the distance between herself and the feral woman. A sour smell emanated from the creature's body.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica wasn't about to test the limits of her suit, figuring it was hard to prepare. That meant hitting hard and hitting fast "Get back!" She shouted, barreling at the creature. She tried slamming it up against the side of the ambulance, not sure whether she should be trying to keep it at a distance, or trying to crush it. This was the sort of thing where again... some sort of superhero mentor would be helpful. If she lived a few years maybe she could pass her wisdom on to another generation. For now though, a lament over proper apprenticeship would do her no favors. Instead she tried to just concentrate on putting all her strength into smashing the thing.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s shoulder slammed into the creature hard. For a second, a jolt of fear shot into her, as she’d never really let loose in that way before, and the impact shoved the monstrous woman hard into the back of the ambulance, shattering one of the rear windows. It was an attack that could have severely injured a man twice Monica’s size, but the creature seemed only momentarily dazed. It let out a snarl, stumbling to its feet.

It unleashed a backhand at Monica’s head, a fairly clumsy blow, and she easily ducked underneath it. The bleeding EMT was carrying the man on the stretcher out of the fray.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica only had a nanosecond to think. Fortunately, the girl seemed as untrained as Monica herself. That was good. Unfortunately, she seemed easily as strong as Monica herself. That.. was bad. Still, no time to ruminate. She had to keep up an aggressive attack or she might find herself on defense. She worked the body for now, it was the largest target and so just trying to throw punches at it instead of doing anything fancy seemed to be in order. She tried pinning the creature against the ambulance, to keep it away from the EMTs who were just there to do their jobs, and the dying man on the stretcher. She needed an opening to lay it out, but for now was content to just try to keep it on its heels.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica threw herself toward the presumed Allie McKenney, launching a flurry of kicks and punches in part to buy the EMT some time. She succeeded in that, but the transformed woman displayed a level of agility to rival her own, ducking and weaving out of the way of her attacks. Unfortunately, Monica’s assault had left her somewhat out of position and open to a raking, upward slash of the creature’s claws.

At the last moment, Monica arced her spine backwards and jerked her chin and head back, avoiding a potentially vicious attack to her jaw and face. The monster-woman took a moment to glance and hiss at either the dreadlocked EMT or the man being carried off on the stretcher. “Come on, buddy,” the first responder said reassuringly, “we’re going to get you out of here.” Monica’s attacker adjusted its gaze back to her but the momentary distraction bought her a bit of time.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica was worried, though she wasn't really aware she was worried. She was aware of pounding adrenalin, quickened breath, a feeling of urgency. In the moment it didn't translate as fear but it was. She stepped in at the opening and launched a fist for the thing's head. She didn't want to kill it but she did need to knock it out, and it was strong. Fast. Endurant. She knew she had to take every chance to take it out, or she was fucked. She had the EMT's to worry about too, which it didn't. Best to end this now so with all the force she could muster, she launched a fist for the thing's face.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s fist met air as the monster-woman moved even faster than she had been anticipating, snapping its head to the side and snarling again. A nauseating smell reminiscent of rotting meat emerged from its throat. Its left arm came in from the side, claws attempting to rake at her. However, it was Monica’s turn to display some speed, bringing her arm up and catching her opponent’s forearm, preventing her long nails from getting any closer.

The EMT had abandoned the stretcher and was running for it now with the oxygen-wearing man in his arms.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica swallowed, feeling her heart pounding in her chest. This was a lot different than beating up some stupid mugger. At the same time, while it was terrifying it was also sort of exciting in a way she didn't want to think about. After catching the creature and stopping it from tearing her open, she launched a kick for its knee, trying to take it down to the ground. She hoped that by damaging its legs too it could maybe not run away. Still, her lack of real combat training was really showing here where she was fighting something with the same native ability as she possessed. She really needed to get on that training.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s kick connected, trying an anguished groan from the creature and dropping it to one knee. It lashed out with a backhand, attempting to rake her with any of its claws. She easily avoided it with two backwards steps. Though the creature was fast, it wasn’t exactly throwing feints and trying to get her off-balance, probably a saving grace judging from the sheer force behind the assault. It managed to rise to its two feet to prepare itself for another potential strike from Monica.