Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

“Yeah, she knows it’s me and not just some rando,” Gabi said. Her delicate fingers stroked Monica’s stomach. “Ooh…I like that idea.” She brushed some hair away from the back of her girlfriend’s neck and kissed it softly. “Also...I told my mom that my final exam was next Friday.” The bio major’s actual final exam was the following Wednesday. “I was thinking…you and me…a couple of days to ourselves before doing the family thing. What do you think?” She nuzzled the back of Monica’s neck again, her warm breath faintly tickling the older girl.

***

“I need you back on my stream again,” Nick noted to Monica as he and his boyfriend, Curtis, walked away from Winslow Library alongside Monica and Gabi. Monica had spotted the two guys in the library café and they’d been catching up on their way across the campus. “My analytics are shit. I even think some of my friends stopped pity-following me. We can talk about anything you want.”

“Could have gone with my idea,” Curtis, a compact, red-headed guy, chimed in. Looking at the girls, he added, “Every time we watch a movie or TV show, he complains about all the stuff they get wrong about hacking. I told him he should make some videos explaining it. Like, what they get wrong about it.”

“But that would take actual effort,” he says. “Whoa. Serious daddy alert over near the parking lot. Don’t look.”

Gabi and Curtis glanced over. Standing at the edge of the parking lot about 50 feet from the four of them was Thalmer, dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans. He made eye contact with Monica now, the hint of a smile on his face.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Yum" Monica grinned and put her hand on Gabi's back "I think I know him from home" She stressed home just a little, and figured Gabi would remember him from the drama at the house "He's a pretty man alright." She ran her fingers along Gabi's back "but I only have eyes for this one. As for your podcast." She paused "I think most of us know that two people typing on a keyboard is bullshit. I think what you probably need to do to connect with your audience is talk about things that are authentic to your experience. Relate the nerd shit you're talking about to your real life, your relationship. Your status as a gay man or bi or whatever. Like, just let people see something real because in this fucking world of everything being made for tiktok or instagram, moments of real earnestness are rare. If you give people a taste of that, it won't be for everyone but it will be for some people."

 

[Halcyon638]

A look of concern crossed Gabi’s face as she looked over at Thalmer, and she looked to Monica as if for reassurance. She relaxed a bit at her girlfriend’s touch, but began to tug lightly on the sleeve of her own coat.

Curtis grinned at Monica’s suggestion. “Trying to get him to be real for like, two seconds is hard enough. Right, Mr. Snarkypants?” He tousled Nick’s hair and the skinny computer science major blushed. “We’ll see if he can get it up to 20 seconds for a video.”

“Phrasing,” Nick said, giving Curtis a playful punch before kissing his cheek. “Looks like he’s headed your way,” he added, glancing at Thalmer and then back to Monica. “Catch you guys later.” He and Curtis headed away.

“Is that…?” Gabi began, reflexively getting behind Monica as the well-built Centauri made his way over. “Are we in danger?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"no. He's gonna teach me the foot fist way or whatever the fuck." She chuckles "He's here, ironically, to make me safer." She reached down, threading her fingers through Gabi's. Best to establish for the guy that she was with the girl and maybe cut off his thinking that he was going to get some ass out of this project. "He knows I'm a magical space princess and so he's now you know, fully invested in my safety." She brushed her thumb along Gabi's hand, then waved to Thalmer "Hey there." She moved over towards the guy "oh this reminds me I have to go to jersey tonight and find that kid before he goes home."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer waved back as Gabi’s body language eased up a bit. “Oh, okay,” she said to Monica, still holding her hand tightly.

“Okay,” Gabi said. “Don’t be too late, though. Don’t you have an exam tomorrow?”

“Hey,” Thalmer said, walking over. “Sure you’ve got a lot going on, but I was in the area for work and…” Looking to the Latina, he extended his hand. “I’m Jack. I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Gabi.” She placed her small hand in his briefly, then retracted it.

“Nice to meet you,” Thalmer/Jack/John said. “Mind if I steal her away for a couple of minutes?” he asked Gabi.

“Sure. No problem.”

When they were some distance away, Jack checked his phone briefly. “Didn’t mean to drop by unexpectedly, and you’re—what, doing exams or whatever? I was a couple of hours away, though, and thought we could maybe squeeze in a brief session. So I can get to know your style, your level of proficiency—assess where you’re at. I’ll be in town until Tuesday or so.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded "this is my girlfriend." she gestured at Gabi. She wanted to establish that pretty clearly. Thalmer thinking with his big head instead of his little head would be more useful to her. She smiled "yeah you know what? I need to do some shit tonight, but we can get in a little bit of a spar when I get back. Won't be too long, need to talk to a guy about some things. vigilante shit. you know the deal. All very hush hush. Secret identity and all that." She grinned "why don't we either tonight when i get back, or if its really late we can do tomorrow after my test?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Watching Gabi leave although not in a leering way, Thalmer noted, “Hmm. You have good taste.” He folded his arms across his wide chest casually. “Whatever works for you," he said in response to her suggestions regarding the times. "You have my number.” The hint of a grin on his sculpted face, he said, “I’ll let you go.” With a brief nod, the blonde-haired man was on his way.

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly, with Monica getting through her Engineering Design & Communication course notes much faster than expected, in part because many of the concepts were already familiar to her before even taking the class. Before long, she was gearing up the Sliver to check into Alex Sutter’s adopted son, Tim. A cold, rainy drizzle was beginning to fall. It would only take about an hour and twenty minutes to zip to Camden, New Jersey and the Rutgers campus.

 

[siobhancan99]

Glad for the early final, Monica took off as soon as it was dark. As it was getting close to the shortest days of the year, that was shortly after 5. She could be in new jersey by 630 or so, meet with this kid and have a normal night's sleep or a spar with Thalmer. probably the first. He'd be around after her final tomorrow after all. She hoped she could get some training in a weapon. A nightstick or a staff or something. It would look cool, give her a little edge over the metal man.... All in all a good thing. Couldn't fight without getting trained though. She settled into the sliver and watch the countryside fly by, finding herself soon enough in the bright lights of New Jersey. She settled down in a darker out of the way part of campus, then began looking for the man's dorm.

 

[Halcyon638]

Before long, Monica spotted Nicholas Hall, a 3-story building. Tim Solomon’s room number was 212. The campus was fairly quiet, though whether it was because students were hunkering down to study or because a number of them had gone home early for the break was unclear. There was a steady trickle of students exiting from the main entrance and one of the side entrances, using key cards to open either door as needed.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Way to not have a fucking plan, Monica" she sighed and watched the building a bit. She probably would have had more luck as herself. She hmmmed a moment, then from her phone set up a new instagram for "the nighthawk." She took a picture of herself next to the sliver, then returned to the outside of the dorm. She DM'd Tim, then typed out in painstaking centauri "we should talk. If you watch the news you know who I am" She repeated the phrase in English, just in case, then set about watching the door to see if she could get in. Probably safer to wait for a reply.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica stayed in the shadows as she set up the account and observed the dorm. At least it wasn’t raining here, though it was still on the chilly side. She waited for a while, hearing somewhere off in the distance the sounds of live music. As she was on the verge of reconsidering her approach, she received a reply, in English. “what do you want to talk about??...”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica messaged back "well I guess that depends on how much you know about who you/we are and what we're doing here. So, some prologue then some real save the Earth kind of shit. Don't worry, I'm not looking for a sidekick. Saving the world all the same."

 

[Halcyon638]

There was no response for a couple of minutes. “Is there another way we can chat? Insta’s not super private or anything. And don’t you usually hang out in Prospect City?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"I'm outside your dorm. Obviously I'll be geared up so we can't go for coffee or anything, but I can take you anywhere that you think is private enough, or we can just go up 500 feet or something. I'd have to sit in your lap for that so I'd prefer to just meet you somewhere dark and out of the way on campus." Monica fired back the response. Dark and out of the way would help if he turned out to be some kind of weird zealot.

 

[Halcyon638]

Tim messaged back, “Okay. There’s a dorm that’s getting renovated and the parking lot behind it is pretty much empty." Shortly after, Monica spotted the freshman, his dark, curly hair wavering in the breeze, leaving the building in a baggy hoodie and walking along one of the well-lit paths.

After a relatively short walk, the two of them were alone in the parking lot, concealed from the rest of the campus by the lines of the brick building and some concrete stairs nearby. “Hey,” he said, giving an awkward wave. “Umm…so…h-how can I help?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica waved at him "Surprised you came, grateful though. thank you" She sat on the steps, asking in Centauri "do you speak centauri" then following up in english "if you do this will be easier. If what I said is just gibberish to you, then I guess I have to ask how much you do know about yourself" she patted the step "and why you're strong for your size, and why your parents look so young for their age... all that kind of stuff." She hoped he at least had a basic command of Centauri, one never knew when folks might be listening in.

 

[Halcyon638]

Tim nodded. “Um…I’m a little rusty but yes.” He began speaking Monica’s language, stating, “I know it. I cannot believe you are true a Centauri. I have never meet one my years before.” Shaking his head, he switched back to English, “Sorry. Like I said, rusty. I knew you were a Centauri! From the videos and news and stuff. You had to be. You’re even smaller in person. No offense. I'm sure you're still badass."

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded. Not good enough to have a complex conversation with the kid. Her mother had drilled her in it constantly, now she understood why though at the time she'd resented it. "yeah well. They shoot me from good angles. It helps for people to think I'm just you know, like some kind of big gladiatrix." She leaned back against the wall at the top of the steps "So. Um. I'm looking for your dad. Not like, the dad that went to your high school graduation but like. your actual dad." She shifted "which uh. if you didn't know. surprise you're adopted? I'm just really firing on cylinders tonight." She gestured "so. Uh. well. you know why we came here? not you and I but like. the collective we?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“And you’re like, my age,” he said enthusiastically, eyes widening. “I mean, you sound like it.” They heard voices not that far from the parking lot, but they soon trailed off into the distance. When Monica broke the news about his adoption, the freshman stared at her, jaw half open for a moment. “Whoa. Um…yeah. Not, uh…I’m adopted?” He wiped some curls away from his forehead. “Huh. I didn’t, uh…after getting the whole, ‘we’re space aliens’ talk, I kinda…I figured all the cards were out on the table.”

He scratched his eyebrow for a moment. “Yeah, I…I do know. Looking for resources to send back home. Monitoring Earth tech. That kind of stuff. Right?” he said, the last word sounding hesitant.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed "No. I mean, that's what some of us came here for. But" She shifted forward uncomfortably "That was all in preparation for invasion. The true test of the Centauri. No longer squabbling among themselves to hone their warrior instinct against an invisible external enemy that most thought never existed. Coming here, claiming this world for the clans. Subjugating its people and leading them into the glorious empire. We came here to put our boot on the neck of humanity. Well. we came here as a force multiplication unit, ready to destroy infrastructure and eliminate key targets. Largely power sources, nuclear weapons and the like" she drew up a knee under her chin. "you don't really know any Centauri by design. We were spread out, nobody in contact with anyone but their handlers so we couldn't give anything away." she looked over at him "My parents had me here. your father had you here. Then, for whatever reason, he gave you to your parents. They raised you, loved you. Cared enough about you to keep you hidden. Told you not to let the other kids know you were stronger, smarter. better. At least I guess that's why you're at Rutgers and not a real school on an athletic scholarship. Same for me."

 

[Halcyon638]

Tim was silent for a long while. “Holy shit. Shit, we’re…invaders?” His face tensed with anger. “My parents never told me any of this. When is this going down?” He hunched over, placing his hands on the sides of his head. “This is fucked up. All of my friends, my teachers—Kelsie,” he said, voicing the last word with particular concern. He managed an approximation of a grin when Monica slammed his school. “Hey. Go Scarlet Knights. I actually am here on a scholarship—not athletic, though. I don’t know why. My grades weren't that great.”

Sighing, Tim said, “So, who’s my father?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"Uh. well. Um. About that." She gestures "if you lived somewhere that wasn't light polluted all night." She paused "in about 40 years you'd probably see a great big light in the sky, brighter than venus. then nothing where there used to be a star." She paused a moment "they really didn't tell you huh?" She sighed and rested her chin on her knees again "most of us are gone now. There's a civil war. There's factions that would come here and destroy this planet to secure their ability to defeat the other pathetic remnants of their empire." she looked up at the hazy night sky, no stars due to all the lights from the campus and the surrounding town "but. well that's why i need your father. He was a brilliant guy. He could allow us to stop anyone from coming here. The problem is, nobody knows where he is. Except maybe your parents I guess. I hoped you did." She hoped this aw shucks routine wasn't a lie. "So yeah. You and I we aren't Centauri. Not really. We're Americans. My dad is American now. Your parents are probably American now. If we want to stay that way, I need contact with your real dad. So I need your help. I hoped, at least, that you knew you were adopted."

 

[Halcyon638]

Tim looked up at the sky momentarily, then back down to the ground. He absentmindedly kicked a plastic iced tea bottle along the concrete. “My parents. I could…I could try talking to them. Find out where he is. Not that they wouldn’t just lie to me again.” He jammed his hands into his jean pockets. “But…what if…what if, they’re like, on the other side?”

His phone chimed and he glanced down. “I can try.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nods "well. Maybe don't tell them everything. Maybe someone just reached out to you and suggested that you weren't their kid and you just have questions about your dad. They don't have to know what you're doing. The most important thing is to keep yourself safe." She stood "you don't seem like a fighter. you seem like a nice kid. Hopefully we all get to stay that way. Hopefully you just settle down with uh. Kelsie was it? have a couple kids. Have a normal life. Be an accountant. Buy a lexus and a house in the suburbs. Well, I mean our generation won't ever have a house in the suburbs but you know what I mean."

 

[Halcyon638]

The freshman nodded. “Okay. I’ll try to talk to them. I’m going home on Tuesday. I think it’ll probably work better if I talk to them face to face.”

The two of them agreed on a means of encrypted communication and before long, Monica was piloting the Sliver back to Prospect City. It was only a little past 9:20 when the aircraft touched down on campus and Monica sent it away.

Gabi greeted her at the door with an enthusiastic kiss. “You’re back early! I tried that pork satay recipe and it came out pretty good! Was going to leave you some to heat up but it’s still pretty warm if you’re hungry.”

The dark-haired girl returned to the couch and pulled up her tablet, no doubt continuing to study for Monday.