Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

While the two men worked together to get one of the two drums loaded inside strapped in, Chromium managed to duck under Monica’s high kick. “I don’t got time for your shit any more,” he declared. Again, he propelled himself forward and launched a series of jabs, Monica dodging each one before almost getting caught by an unexpected uppercut. The sirens crept closer.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica dodged, looking over at the truck. She had to risk taking a hit, to potentially stop the truck. She jumped away from Chromium "Better start running, man. Cops are here" then launched a punch for one of the guys loading the barrels. "you aren't getting away with this stuff. if you flee on foot i'll let you go."

 

[Halcyon638]

The distracted criminal was too slow to avoid Monica’s attack. A moment later, he was slumped over the side of the barrel as Chromium paused for a moment before making a break for the interior of the warehouse. Before long, the SWAT team was swarming the area. The driver of the truck was stepping out with his hands up, and the other criminal in the rear of the vehicle also had his hands raised.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica took that moment to make her exit, slipping out towards the ship. The last she needed was some cop aligned with the DA lady to decide to make his name with an arrest, and fighting the cops wasn't really in the hero playbook. She ran towards the sliver, trusting the cops to do their thing and brought it down to ground level, hoping to just get the fuck out.

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi bent over, her perky ass outlined by her robin’s egg blue leggings as she leaned over to touch her toes. “Following the confrontation with Nighthawk, police were able to corral Sabyn using five tasers.” Catching Monica’s eyes on her as she prepared to go out for a Friday morning jog, the brunette smiled coquettishly.

“Perv.”

“The chemical alleged to have been Sabyn’s target is a rare compound that has recently seen an upsurge in value due to its use in the production of the club drug Swat,” the reporter on Monica’s phone screen continued. “While police have not released any details of the case, early reports indicate the attempted robbery may be linked to the notorious reputed crime lord known only as The Imperial.”

“My eyes are up here, you know,” Gabi said, leaning over the couch and softly kissing her lover’s forehead. It was an hour until Monica’s film exam. The dark-eyed girl had made a point of going out to the gym or for a jog since regular classes had ended, convinced that she would let her health slide to focus on her schooling unless she kept up a routine. “I’ll be back before you leave.”

Not long after the cheerful bio major had left, Monica received a text from her father. “I’ve done a little digging into A.S.,” he wrote, referring to the missing Centauri engineer, Alex Sutter. “You have time to talk?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"why? because im imagining your round ass bouncing on my lap?" Monica pulled Gabi into her lap, wrapping her arms around her. She sucked on her pouty lower lip "be safe on your run ok?" It was light out and all but, she worried. Gabi was important to her and people that were important to her disappeared. She ran her hands along Gabi's sides, then nodded "alright babe. I have to leave in about 40. Have a good run." She swatted her lover's ass playfully, then turned her attention to the news. Unsurprising that the chemicals were thought to be stolen by the Imperial. Sabyn had alluded to as much. Interesting it was part of how swat was made. More interesting people were still doing it with the girl who turned into a monster. Troubling. She wondered how long till someone had the same reaction. She wondered again if it wasn't some sort of Centauri bio weapon thing. Something to consider. Still she had to stop finding Centauri in every shadow. Humans were plenty capable of being awful on their own.

When she got the text from her dad she called immediately "I have about 20 minutes. what's up?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“You are going to crush this exam, and we are going to celebrate,” Gabi said, stroking Monica’s hair on her way. “See you soon, querida.”

James picked up immediately. “I managed to dig up a few possible leads. First of all, I dug up the name of Sutter’s handler back in the day. Erika Lewis. We…don’t exactly have a great relationship. In that she hates me. Thinks I’m a coward and a traitor for basically stepping back and dialing down my role once your mom left. I don’t know how much I can get out of her. Presumably, if she knew where Sutter is, she would find him, so I don’t know how helpful she’d be in terms of where he is now, but maybe she knows something that can help us track him down. Though there’s a good chance she would try to kill him if she found him, so…,” he said with a sigh. "Apparently, she lives in Colorado."

“Then, there’s Sutter’s son. After his wife died in the hospital and Sutter ended up going missing, the kid was adopted. I managed to do a little peeking into the state of Mass’s adoption records…don’t ask me how. Let’s just say their cybersecurity isn’t quite as locked down as First Line. It looks like he ended up with a family in New Jersey. Centauri, I’m willing to bet. His name’s Tim Solomon. It looks like he’s attending Rutgers University. Not exactly a great lead, since there's a solid chance he's never even really met his dad.”

Monica received a meme in her group thread from Porter responding to one Hadley had sent out. “I tried doing a reverse image search with Sutter, but unfortunately, the only pics I could find with him are pretty grainy, so it didn’t really work. Just got other articles about his disappearance. Still coming up empty with First Line. Tried going through some pics of company events to see if I happened to spot him in the crowd, but I think my eyes started to cross.”

James's tone shifted. "Do you want me to follow up on either of these? How are exams going?"

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica shrugged "exams are fine. I'll do alright. I'm not letting things get in the way of school. I mean, I have to have a job at the end of all this and I'm not gonna run around fighting crime forever you know?" She brushed a hand through her hair "And at some point, i'll have to handle this Centauri stuff in some final fashion, so I promise I'm still studying." She laughed and looked around the apartment "I mean I can find Tim at Rutgers. Seems odd the son of such a brilliant guy would go to such a low-rent school. I mean... New Jersey? Really? how sad." She grinned and lay on the couch, brushing her hand through her hair "chase down this Erika thing. I can find the son. Hopefully I'm famous enough out of state to have some impact on him in terms of being starstruck."

 

[Halcyon638]

“Glad to hear you’ve got your priorities straight,” James said. “I’m delaying Thalmor as long as I can. If I push this much farther beyond the end of exams…he or whoever his handler is might start getting a little less patient.” Monica saw Gabi contribute to the group text thread.

James let out a short laugh. “Well, just goes to show you how superior alien intelligence is no match for the brain-numbing effects of social media, streaming, and video games. Not to get all ‘get off my lawn.’ As far as I know you’re the only masked superhero out there still, so I think you’re a pretty big deal.” Monica’s phone chimed again. “So, what are your plans for the break? Are you going to stay here for some of it? All of it? Obviously, I want you home as much as possible, but…I know you can’t just up and leave the city for a month.”

Gabi caught Monica on her way out the door, long enough for a quick peck on the cheek and another bit of encouragement from the dark-haired girl. Monica made her way over to the classroom where her Intro. to Film Studies final was being held. As the clock ticked closer to the start of the exam, she noticed Hadley wasn’t there. Minutes ticked by and the sophomore girl continued to be a no-show.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed "I mean, some of us have to be thinking a... wait. Is uh. Is the kid like full Centauri? Where's the mother? is he half? can we have kids with earth people? Also I mean. Are there many centauri kids? I mean. You and mom actually fell in love but I would guess even the most stoic cover couples eventually break down and have sex." she hmmed "anyway, off track I guess." She shifted "i assumed we'd just come home over break. I mean, I think the dorms close? At least for a bit. I'll probably come down to the city a few nights a week to be seen on patrol just so nobody assumes i'm an out of town college student when I disappear every break..."

When she got to the test she looked around for Hadley. She texted the girl "Climb off Porter's virgin dick and come to your final." But she had an ill at ease feeling. She tapped her pen over and over on the desk, continually checking her phone.

 

[Halcyon638]

James casually cleared his throat. “Yeah, he’s full Centauri. His mother was Centauri as well. She died of an infection after giving birth to him. Regarding your other question…yes. We can interbreed, though it was outlawed by High Command. I don’t know how many Centauri kids are out there, but as far as I could tell, there were about a half dozen couples sent down, so…there’s a few of you.”

Alex Townes gave Monica a slightly disapproving look as he spotted her on her cell phone, slowly making his way up the aisles as students wrote short essays in their blue books. She was finishing up her final essay about an hour into the 2-hour exam period when she surreptitiously spotted a text from Hadley. “Whoopsie. Totally overslept. Tell Townes to keep his pants on and I’ll be over in 5.”

The purple-haired girl made it in 15, looking disheveled and bleary-eyed. Townes gave her a look of confusion. She offered no explanation, giving him a blank look and then snatching up a blue book before plunking herself down in the front row.

Monica put the final touches on her last response a few minutes later, feeling almost certain she had aced it. When she walked out, Hadley was furiously scribbling.

She’d received a text from Gabi. “Hey baby! How’d the exam go? Just FYI I picked up a shift from 3-8 today covering for Anup,” she wrote, referring to a coworker at the pharmacy. The Latina was likely on her way to her first exam of the exam period.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica shook her head as Hadley made it. At least she didn't have to worry she was off somewhere in a ditch. She focused on the test, regurgitating Townes own thoughts back at him with just enough of her own language to make it seem like she wasn't parroting him. She felt that was the key to success, really. After the test, she texted her girl "aced it. be safe getting to work. Gonna wait for Hads to get done then might grab a bite." she leaned against the building, pulling a candy bar out of her bag and eating absently as she waited for Hads to get out of the test, wanting to see what's up with her.

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi texted back, “Sounds good! Remind her she still owes me a character sheet.” It was a sunny December afternoon, the temperature reaching the high forties after a few days dipping below 30. About five minutes before the exam period officially ended, Hadley exited, messenger bag slung over her shoulder and hood draped over her head.

“Hey,” she said casually, “Thanks for the reminder. I can’t believe I just conked out like that. Just…total lights out.” It was a shaky attempt at deception, and Monica had honed an ability to see through even convincing liars. “What are you up to?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica arched an eyebrow. Hads had been through some pretty traumatic shit, so she didn't want to lean on her too hard, but at the same time... "what's up with you anyway?" she bit into her snickers "why don't we go get something to eat. My treat. we can just talk and chill and like, whatever."

 

[Halcyon638]

Hadley let out a long yawn. “You know. Just cramming. Data Structures & Algorithms is kicking my ass pretty hard,” she said, rubbing a sleepy seed away from her left eye. “Sounds good.”

The two engineering students hit up a nearby spot that sold an assortment of wraps and smoothies. Hadley opted for a bagel, which was on the cheaper end of the scale. “Can’t wait for this semester to be over. You? You’re all coming to Lucy’s party on Saturday, right?” Lucy was an acquaintance of Hadley and a fellow engineering student who was hosting an end-of-semester get together for the more cerebral types on campus.

As they ate, Hadley unpacked her plans for the semester break. “You guys totally need to come to NYC some weekend! I’ll be staying with my mom the whole break. Which means I’ll need to escape.”

At a certain point, she received a text and checked her phone. “Ha. I forgot about your text from before. Yeah, the whole Porter thing…I don’t know where I was at that whole night. So, Gabi's family didn't freak out too hard. That's gotta feel pretty good."

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded "you know... I benefitted a lot from talking to my Psych professor this semester." All the sexual tension aside it had been true "So you know, Hads. Maybe its uh. you know, not such a bad idea that you maybe talk to someone. There's free stuff on campus but your dad is also a cop. The benefits are really really good and you should look into it you know?" she dug into her wrap, barbecue chicken and avocadoes with salad stuff. "I mean, you know I know a thing or two about not uh... having the circumstances be great."

 

[Halcyon638]

Hadley took her plastic knife and jabbed a glob of cream cheese out of the middle of her bagel. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ve doubled up the appointments with my regular therapist. I think she’s a little bummed I wasn’t kidnapped longer. More material for a book, right? Anyway, how confusing was that third question? I literally didn’t even know what he was asking even after he explained it to me.”

The sophomore ate steadily. As if sensing Monica’s concern, as they were making their way out, she added, “I’m fine, Mon. Thank you. For the bagel and for…” She sighed and pulled out a hair tie, then began wrestling with her long locks. “Yeah, so…I don’t…I haven’t really had…someone who’s like…ugh. Someone who’s a friend and who also isn’t, like…undermining me or who I don’t feel like I’m competing with or trying to impress or…Don’t get me wrong, Nick and Layla and Porter—they’re great, but…it’s different. We’re different.”

Hadley tossed her tied hair back. “Thank you for being…an actual friend.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"Youre welcome, Hads. Really. I just ... kind of exist though I'm not doing anything special" She smiled and wrapped an arm around Hadley for a moment "be kind to yourself."

Monica headed home, and with Gabi out of the house she took a minute to find the Rutger's kid. Tim was a less common name these days, what with all the Liams and Jacobs and such. Still, bit of a needle in a haystack. All his shit could be private, depending on how paranoid he was brought up. Still, nothing ventured nothing gained. She set about searching for any trace of him online.

 

[Halcyon638]

It didn’t take long for Monica to locate plenty of information relating to Tim Solomon. He was an affable-looking guy with short, dark, and curly hair, many of his pictures showing him skateboarding or looking questionably sober while hanging out with friends. His posts revealed a shaky grasp on spelling and punctuation. After some doing, she managed to snag a directory listing his dorm number, a task that took a bit more doing.

When Gabi came home, she heated up some leftovers and then took a seat next to Monica on the couch. “Did you work with a guy named Graham in the theater department?” she asked, taking a sip of water in between bites. When Monica confirmed that she had, Gabi added, “I thought so! Get this—he’s Kendra’s boyfriend.” Over the past few weeks, the Latina had been making reference to a new friend at work who was pursuing a graduate nursing program. “Did you get along okay? She mentioned something about all of us grabbing dinner sometime. What do you think?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"He seemed nice enough. You met him. He came to our halloween party with Hadley and the strong impression I got back then was they were fucking, and then Graham left her here to rape porter. I mean he seems nice and maybe Hadley just wished they were fucking? He was an alright guy. We can go out to dinner with them for sure. Just you know, maybe don't bring up Hads." She rests back against her girlfriend, "He's a brit." She reached over her shoulder and ran her fingers through Gabi's hair "I have to make an official Nighthawk Appearance over in Jersey soon. Before Rutgers finals are over, so probably tomorrow night." she turned and sucked on Gabi's lower lip, her one hand sliding under Gabi's top to run her hand along her stomach "But I can focus on you tonight if you aren't too busy."

 

[Halcyon638]

A confused expression briefly appeared on Gabi’s features. “Ohh, you’re talking about Cameron. Graham is, like, a stagehand or something. He builds sets and stuff.” Monica now remembered her burly coworker, a guy in his mid to late twenties with a slight southern twang.

“New Jersey? Aww, when is your Nighthawk business going to take you to, like, California or the Bahamas,” Gabi said, slipping an arm across her girlfriend’s waist.

Gabi’s dark brown eyes locked onto Monica’s as their lips touched. “Yess, please. I’m a big ball of nerves. You’re my reward for making it through this week,” the Latina said. Gabi stroked her lover’s cheek.

 

[siobhancan99]

Straddling Gabi's lap she ran her fingers through her hair "what, you don't want to be whisked off to exotic Cherry Hill? there's malls and everything." Running her nails along her girlfriend's scalp she looked into her big brown eyes "you're gonna nail this week, Gabi so no nerves." She brushed her thumbs along her cheekbones. She leaned in and sucked softly at her lower lip, then her upper. She lightly massaged her girlfriend's shoulders, keeping her touch gentle "Maybe even you know, Hoboken. can't go wrong with going to Hoboken."

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi’s nose nuzzled Monica’s as they faced one another. “Ooh. Tell me more about this magical land.” The olive-skinned girl closed her eyes and tilted her chin up slightly as her girlfriend touched her scalp and reassured her. Monica could feel the tension in her shoulders. “Mmm. Feels nice, baby.”

Gabi’s lips brushed Monica’s neck, and Monica could smell the muted, subtly sweet scent of her best friend’s apple blossom shampoo. “It would be nice to go with you somewhere,” the younger girl mused, lips lightly sucking at a spot right above where Monica’s neck met her shoulder. “That’s another reason I wanted to get a job. Save up some money to take you somewhere.”

The Latina kissed her way gradually up her lover’s neck. “I mean, Spring Break is probably out of the question, but maybe this summer. You and me on a beach somewhere.” Her teeth grazed Monica’s flesh. “You in something ridiculously skimpy.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica laughed "i know literally nothing about New Jersey." She ran her hands along her girl's curves "you don'thave to pay for us to go anywhere. You just have you be you, mi amore" She kissed Gabi softly, tugging on her pouty lips over and over again. She wrapped her strong arms around her girl and cradled her close "wherever we are, together, is where I want to be." She kissed along her jaw to her neck, nuzzling, nibbling. "I mean you rock a swimsuit but we can do that just as well at the dam out in Cottersville for free. There's time enough for Mexico or Puerto Rico or Ibiza or whatever."

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi’s lips pressed gently against Monica’s. “Aww,” the brunette said, clearly moved by her girlfriend’s earnest sentiment. She smiled and closed her eyes as Monica kissed her neck. “You’re so sweet to me, carino. I just want to do everything with you, you know?” She reached around and firmly grasped Monica’s ass, then began kneading her cheeks. “I have to treat mi princesa right,” She touched her forehead to Monica’s, then tilted her own head to kiss the older girl’s mouth.

Monica could feel the warm, moist tip of Gabi's tongue teasing hers. "Why don't you go get in your bed? I've got something a little special for you."