Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[siobhancan99]

"ugh" Monica thought it might be something like that. "you know not a month ago his ass said he was coming up here to use the god damn thing to find out about some weird shit that's been going on, so my assumption was his ...'Fine' was in remembrance or realization of the fact that he needed to use it." She attempted to twist out of the man's arms "Now there's all sorts of shit to have to cover up. what a clusterfuck"

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalrem let Monica go. “It sounds like he hasn’t exactly been straight with you,” he mused. “I have been. All I need is for him to fix the damn thing and then I’ll leave you alone. Both of you. Or train you, if you still want.” He rubbed his chin momentarily. “I think I’d have a good foundation to work with.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded and dropped her aggressive pose "look. He's probably fucking done with all the home bullshit, and I'm guessing aside from maybe you... all the rest of us on this planet are too. So let me ask you... why are you still.." she gestures at the sky "taking orders. I mean.. its not like they've paid you in the 15 years or so since everything literally exploded."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalrem glanced over at James’s unconscious form. “Part of being a good soldier is not asking that question,” he noted, a hint of something approximating regret in his tone. “I don’t know that you could understand what it’s like. I was raised for the singular purpose of serving something greater. The Centauri empire…my people—our people,” he corrected himself. “Some of us may have…wavered. I get it, I do. Football and Thai food and Beyonce—what’s not to like? If it’s any consolation, the High Command is more concerned about just keeping an eye on things down here.” Monica felt his statement wasn’t entirely true.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica shifted "my mother left me here to chase dreams of Empire. You need to come to terms with some things. The homeworld is gone. That means that the large industrial base and most of the technical know how is gone. Things will start to devolve, out there. They will be further degraded by conflict. Each factory that gets blown up in the civil war will not be rebuilt or replaced. Every tech that dies in a bombardment will not pass his knowledge on. The only moment the Centauri had to come here and conquer these people passed 15 years ago. If they couldn't do it then..." she gestured towards prospect city "they can make super soldiers now. Men with metal skin as strong as any one of us. I fought a girl who is a damned vampire. Her hands punched through my armor. There are 8 billion of them. Thalmor... I'll get my dad to rebuild the array because he needs to use it to find out what's going on at home... but... you need to understand that not destroying it yourself is death. If the Centauri want to come here, they need to come and extend an offer of what technology they have left to them that ours can approximate and rebuild... and settle as refugees. They will never again be conquerors."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalrem nodded. “I figured this Nighthawk chick was one of us,” he said, smiling. As he continued to listen, he added, “Well, you can tell them that yourself as soon as you convince your dad to fix it.”

He walked over to Monica’s father. “I’ll stick him the back of the van. It shouldn’t be too long til he comes to. In the meantime, why don’t you show me some of your moves? Maybe I could give you a few pointers. From one Battle Caste to another.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"I'm serious, Thalmor. your best bet is to hitch your wagon to the humans" she shfited into a rudimentary stance "I'm a citizen, but this country has a long history of laying down with dogs to get what they want. They'd ignore your status if they thought you'd drop into some hellhole in Pakistan or China for love of your adopted country..." she launched a kick for his knee, trying to not do anything too flashy against a guy that could surely beat her ass down if he wanted to.

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalrem exchanged some attacks with Monica. “Pretty good,” he observed. “You’ve definitely got potential. I could help bring that out of you.”

After about ten minutes, Monica saw her father emerge from the van’s rear, looking around cautiously. Spotting Monica, his eyes widened. “Is he--?” Catching sight of Thalrem, he got into a defensive position.

“Easy,” Thalrem said, putting his hands out. “I’ve got no problem with her. Or you, really, except for the whole you trying to kill me thing. You should listen to her and fix the thing. Then you two get to go back to your turkey and cranberry sauce and putting up your Christmas lights way too early.”

A wary expression crossed James’s face. “Monica, we should…I need to talk to her alone,” he said to the other Centauri.

“No, afraid not,” Thalrem said. Looking at Monica, he said, “Tell him to do the right thing so you two can be on your merry way.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica looks over at Thalrem "Don't be an ass. You can take both of us in a fight. Go stand by the sliver. What are we gonna do, walk home? My father and I need to talk to each other and you can either pout about that for a while and not get your shit fixed, or deal with it and get it fixed. Now go stand over there and leave us be a minute." She gestured "go on now. unless you want this to take all week. You know if you fuck with my dad he's likely going to figure out you need parts you don't have..." she gestured again "so lets do this the easy way."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalrem folded his arms across his chest and sighed. “You got five minutes, okay? It’s been a long day that started off with Dad over here trying to fucking kill me.” He glared at James. “She’s right, though. Neither of you want to fight me. Trust me.”

He walked around to the driver’s side of the van. James hurried over to Monica. “You can’t ask me to fix that thing,” he said, motioning to the tower. “If I do…you’re not safe.” James sighed. “It’s…your mother…she…”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed and reached out to her dad "dad. They will send someone to fix it." She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a squeeze "We can't run from this. We can go to the government if we have to.What we can't do... is stop this from happening" she gestured at the beacon "maybe for a day. or a month or a few months. But not forever. When I said to Thalmor that their tech would degrade that was true but... its not true to the point they couldn't send a ship and a tech and some parts. Not if escaping here to hide in Earth's population is their secret end game to this civil war. And you know it is." She turned and looked at the tower. "So tell me what you want to tell me about mom, and then you and I can make a plan. Together."

 

[Halcyon638]

James looked Monica in the eyes. “A month, your mother contacted me. She used an encrypted military signal that—well, it ensured I was the only one who could access it.” He took a deep breath. “She…all but handed you off to a mad man. A member of the Totality,” he said, referring to the bizarre religious zealots who worshipped some space entities known as the Vast. “You are…your uncle was next in line to to the throne, but he died, and this mad man—Sorrinel—plans to use you—to marry you—to press his claim.” He shook his head.

“Your mom—she said some bullshit about how it was the ‘only way’ to stop some genocide in Centauri space—her typical self-serving shit. Told me how it would be better for all of us if you agreed to go peacefully.” He glanced over at the van. “For whatever reason, the Warpstream’s been down as well,” he noted, referencing the technology that enabled FTL travel by the Centauri’s ships. “For how long, I couldn’t tell you. The upshot is, as soon as this beacon is fixed, an order will be sent, and every last Centauri fucker with a speck of ambition is going to line up to be the one to deliver you to their batshit would-be emperor once the Stream is up and running again.”

James looked over at the van again. “I'm not going to let that happen.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Nodding she thought a moment "well. A few points. If I'm that important they will just come here when the warpstream is fixed. So we can only really delay. We can't stop this thing from happening." She brushed a hand through her hair "you not fixing it or going after blondie there is just you getting killed and me still getting packed off to space or whatever. Also... thanks for not telling me i'm a magical space princess. Might have been good to know. Does he know?" she jerks her thumb at the other guy "because we can use that."

 

[Halcyon638]

James looked up into the air thoughtfully. “There’s a…chance that someone might be able to disrupt the Warpstream into the Milky Way. There’s a Centauri who’s…gone off the grid but apparently is involved in bleeding edge energy research. He makes me look like a handyman. I almost wondered if he had something to do with it going down, but I don’t think even he could bring down the system on the Centauri side.”

“Did you hear that?” James said, shifting his head past the van toward the far side of the fenced in area. Monica hadn’t heard a thing. “Thought I heard voices.”

“Monica, I didn’t…” he began as she commented on him keeping her heritage from her. “Not now. He doesn’t know, I think. Or else he’d have been targeting you from the moment he set eyes on the house.”

Thalrem rounded the side of the van again. The pistol was in his hand, though lowered. “Alright, that’s enough daddy-daughter time. He on board?” he asked Monica.

 

[siobhancan99]

"that was like 30 seconds. Look if you want to report in six months when they send a new tech that you fucked this up because you are afraid of being alone in the dark by all means just shoot us, then go live your best six months till you have to report why the beacon wasn't fixed today. Otherwise get a phone or something so you can see how long five minutes is. I'm on the cusp here. Now go and come back."

She looks over at her dad then back to Thalmer. "go on. we need a few minutes."

 

[Halcyon638]

The Centauri man wore an exasperated expression. Eyeing Monica and vaguely gesturing with the gun, he said, “I’ve put up with enough of your shit, partly because I’m a patient guy and partly because I’ve been thinking non-stop about how much I'd like to stick my cock in you since the minute I first saw you, but even I have my limits.”

“Go fuck yourself,” James said, clenching his fists.

“Get the fuck to work,” Thalrem said to James. “Or is her life not enough motivation for you?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed and gestured at her father "relax." then turned to Thalmor "you had the information to come get us, which means you had the information on my mother. My mother who came to this planet because she was at the time expendable. My mother who, with the death of the Emperor's children in the civil war and the death of her brother, the emperor's nephew is heir to the throne. Making me second in line." she crossed her arms "you will stand down, and you will keep a polite tongue in your head. The reasons for this should be manifestly obvious, but since you haven't put these things together on your own I will assume that you are slow. If you kill me, they will kill you and it will take a long time. You will be made a public example of on how not to competently perform your tasks. Your death will be slow and terrible. If you do NOT kill me, some day I will be seated on that throne, and my memory will be long. Now. My father is going to fix the beacon in a few minutes and you... are going to put your fucking gun down and take a walk while I talk to him. For a while Thalmor. I will let you know when I am done speaking to my mother's consort..." She let that hang out there, a reminder that her father was lower caste as a subtle reminder that Thalmor was, himself, arguably not her equal. "you and I will get something to eat for him and you will assist in acquiring any parts he needs. You're probably already in enough shit as it is. Maybe if you stop being a dick we can all forget how this began and celebrate how it ends."

 

[Halcyon638]

The Centauri’s eyes widened as Monica spoke and he lowered the gun. “You…you’re the daughter of…?” He slipped the gun into his coat and held his palms out in front of him. “I swear, I didn’t know. I just—I have a list of engineers, and his name was on it. I knew your mother was Battle Caste, but I didn’t know…I would have never…”

The blond-haired man kneeled on the wet pavement. “I serve the Empire. Which means I serve you.” At Monica’s insistence, he wandered off.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica tried not to let the fear show through on her face. She sniffed, haughty, imperious... at least she hoped "Indeed." she shot the man her most withering glance, then turned back to her father "I don't see a lot of way around fixing this thing. That doesn't mean it has to be fixed this morning... if you catch my meaning. Maybe you need to fabricate some parts. maybe that will take a week. maybe you need to be home to do it. Maybe you need access to his shop. Oh, also, at the end of this you're gonna have to tell the police he kidnapped you after you chased him trying to break into the house. You're like a full on person of interest in a shooting" she shook her head "If you'd have trusted me to talk about this we could have formulated a plan that didn't involve you being on police radar dad." she sighed "I'm an adult now. We're in this together. you and me." She hugged him and let go "give me what you have on this other engineer. I'll see if Thalmor has a file. I'll tell him its for weapons development or something. I'll try to get him this week but... its the last week of class before finals. So you know. we will have to figure out what's possible with the time we have."

 

[Halcyon638]

James nodded, for once, looking nearly his age due to fatigue. “I’m sorry. Once I knew you were in danger…I just…wasn’t thinking straight. Any chance you can command him to blow his fucking head off?” He hugged Monica tightly. “I’ll make a show of going up there and giving it a try. Honestly, I’m guessing it’s not going to be as simple as shutting it down and turning it on again. It shouldn’t be too hard to trick him in the short-term at least.” He sighed. “I’ll take care of everything back home, okay?”

When Thalmor returned, James climbed the ladder. It was just past one o’clock in the morning, and the snow had stopped. He presented the “bad news” to the other Centauri who simply nodded. “Whatever you need.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded to Thalmor "is the van stolen? if not you're on the cops radar. You're going to have to lay low for a while." she shifted and crossed her arms "I'm gonna head back. You should consider finding his phone too." She shook her head "I also need to find another centauri tech. I need a weapon. A real one. My father mentioned one... do you have information on the others I can look at?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmor shook his head. “No, but it’s not registered in my name. I’ll switch the plates out as soon as I can.” He paused to look off at the sound of a distant vehicle, though it was heading away from the area. “They don’t give me much. There were only two names on the list I was given, and one of them jumped off a bridge.” He stroked his chin thoughtfully. “What do you need a weapon for? There’s…a woman. Centauri. Not an engineer but she can get you things you need. Violet—her name is Violet. She’s in Virginia. I can get you the address.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica shook her head "nah I just assumed you might know where this guy was. I want something that will fucking destroy anything it will come across. I fought a guy made of metal and he beat my ass. If this becomes a regular occurrence I'm going to need something more than my fists." She put it off, not wanting to make too much of it and attract too much of Thalmor's attention. She'd have to wait till her dad had a moment to clue her into where this centauri genius was "I'm heading back, my girlfriend will be worried." she texted Gabi to let her know she was on the way back. at least the sliver had auto pilot and she could sleep part of the way there. "Look after my father. He's going to need to be home soon, even if he's not done. He will be cooperative from this point out. I have spoken." She let that last bit out both to amuse herself as a Mandalorian reference, and also to appear every bit the haughty space princess she needed Thalmor to see her as.

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmor’s eyes momentarily widened at the girlfriend mention, but he said nothing. Monica’s father nodded when she said that he’d cooperate.

There were a flurry of texts from Gabi, all desperately asking about her and James.

“Please, carino. Tell me you’re safe.”

“I love you. Please come home.”

Monica managed to get 3-4 hours of sleep on the 5 and a half hour flight, though Gabi was still texting her well past 3:00 in the morning. When Zoe brought her by the house, it was around 9:00. The usually bubbly girl looked exhausted, and all but collapsed into her girlfriend’s arms after their friend’s car had driven away. Before long, she broke into quiet sobs. “I was really worried about you guys,” she said.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica picked her girlfriend up in her arms and carried her in to bed. She laid her down, then curled in behind her, spooning her. "I was too. The guy that took my dad is the real deal. He threw me around like I was a child." She kissed Gabi's shoulder and sighed "So... like. there's a lot going on." She wrapped an arm over her girlfriend "So. Uh. I'm a princess. or some shit. Some equivalent." She traced her hand along Gabi's stomach "and my mother left to take her place as heir to the throne. All useful information I probably should have had when I was 12 right? I mean. It is one thing to think your mother abandoned you to be some scrub in some hopeless war in space and quite another to understand she left to put together the dying fragments of a civilization she was heir to and responsible for. It makes more sense now, and it probably would have hurt a lot less to know that when she left. I don't know why they kept it from me." she tangled her legs with Gabi's "buuuut. she promised me to some evil fuck to like, mend the political schism in space and my dad... is doing dumb shit to keep me safe from that. You need to understand that this means my life is going to become dangerous for reasons other than the vigilante work." she inhaled Gabi's scent "and that might mean your life could become dangerous. And I need you to think seriously about that. I'm not my mother, and I'm not your mother, and I'm not going to push you away to keep you safe or some noble bullshit that robs you of your agency.... but." she kept Gabi close "You need to understand that it might be best for you to make that decision yourself, at some point, and that your safety means everything to me and if you need to go live a normal life Gabi... it is ok. I'm not asking you to right now. But I am saying that if something happened to you over this I would never forgive myself. So you need to take this seriously and re-evaluate from time to time and you need to be sure that this is for you."