Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[siobhancan99]

Monica spent the night relaxing, studying for her exam. After her test, with her head clear and an ability to focus she texted Thalmer and met him on a rooftop of a nearby industrial building. She wasn't armored up, "now I can't go back to the wife all bruised up so..." She laughed and slid into a ready stance "lets not break anything ok?" She let him come at her at first, focusing on defense, trying to dodge a bit and keep out of his main range, knowing if she was at all aggressive he'd hand her ass to her.

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer, too, hung back at first, wearing a look of quiet amusement on his face. Despite the weather, he wore light workout gear that accentuated his powerful physique. “Don’t worry. We won’t leave any marks.” Noticing Monica staying on the defensive, he took the initiative. “So. A girlfriend?” He took a few jab steps toward Monica and feinted a few attacks before catching her with a closed hand, sending her stumbling back a few steps. “She’s pretty.”

The Centauri male let her regain her footing and then circled around her once more. “How long has this been going on?” He let loose a flurry of blows, then feigned another punch before bringing Monica down with a leg sweep.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica fell on her ass, rolling back up into a crouch "hey. distracting people with rude questions is a skill I already have" she smirked, teasing him "i've mastered that bit." She winked and feinted with her right, throwing a quick jab with her left "and as for how long, A few months. I had a boyfriend before her. I've known her practically my whole life though. This is just a new wrinkle." She circled a bit, keeping a wary eye on him, trying to hang back a bit as it was hard to talk and fight at the same time, and she didn't want to have to split her concentration. She assumed that was part of the lesson, and he wasn't just sniffing around cause girls kissing girls was hot on Centauri too.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Yeah. I noticed you don’t exactly have a problem speaking your mind,” Thalmer said, grinning as well. He quickly jerked his head back, Monica’s jab just barely missing. “I see.” He tossed a few almost half-hearted punches as she circled, as if meant only to keep her on her toes. “I wouldn’t be making any long-term plans with her, just so you know.” Now he came in with a series of kicks, two of which she avoided easily. With the third, he jumped into the air a bit, catching her on the shoulder and throwing her off-balance. “With you needing to, uh, do your royal duty. I mean, maybe they’ll let you bring along a concubine or two, though I don’t know how big she’d be on that gig. She seems like a nice girl.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica felt her hackles rise, but realized that was probably what the man was after. She narrowed her eyes, and decided rather than answer words with violence she'd throw a taunt of her own "What man who doesn't prefer the company of boys would keep her out of our bed hmmm?" She stumbled back a bit "particularly since he'd be necessarily lower status than me. But that's for me and him to work out. It's not really for the help to decide." She tried to keep her tone even, blase even, to see if it would affect the man.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Fair enough,” Thalmer responded, backpedaling a few steps quickly, then bouncing lightly on the balls of his feet, hands raised defensively. “You don’t need to worry about me knowing my place,” he said, still the same confident smirk on his face. “It’s to serve you. And the empire, of course. Whatever’s left of it.”

He motioned for Monica to come at him now. “I was thinking. There were probably a few finer points of Battle Caste physiology Mom and Dad never talked to you about.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica grinned "can we shoot lasers out of our eyes like supergirl? please tell me its laser eyes." She dropped like she was going to sweep his leg, but then instead kicked for his inner thigh, concentrating more on trying to land a hit than drop him to the floor. She assumed that he hadn't raised to her verbal bait because of Centauri discipline, and that that same discipline would probably cue him into her ruse, but she had to at least show him what she had if he was going to teach her.

 

[Halcyon638]

The Centauri man smiled. “No, nothing that practical.” Monica’s kick landed and a look of momentary surprise crossed his face. “Nice one.” He launched a pair of kicks in response, but she parried one with her forearm and ducked the other.

He curled his fingers toward himself again, beckoning her to bring the attack at him. “There was a belief at some point that the fiercest Centauri warriors were conceived right in the aftermath of battle,” he said, dodging, weaving, and blocking the next series of attacks from Monica.

At one point, her fist flew by him and she threw herself off-balance the slightest bit. Thalmer took advantage, sidestepping so that he was now behind her. A moment later, she felt his rock-hard arms wrapping up her own arms and then in a split-second, he lifted her into mid-air, holding her tightly against his torso with her feet off the ground, pinning her but not doing any harm. He leaned in so he was close to her right ear. “So they genetically engineered a special biochemical reaction between Battle Caste men and women that’s activated whenever the fight-or-flight response kicks in. Can you feel it?”

A moment later, he let her down and stepped back, seemingly observing her closely for her reaction, a satisfied grin on his face.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica could feel the pull of something. Some kind of nascent sexual attraction. She assumed it was the general association of sex and violence that occurred in earth humans. Coupled with the inhumanly low body fat Thalmer managed to pull off somehow without total dehydration "Not gonna lie that seems counterproductive." She shifted a little "how do the clans finish any fights?" She could feel the draw, the desire to do something with him but she pushed it down for now "i mean do you like... use breathers or something?" He looked fucking great at the moment and so she talked to distract herself as best she could.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica felt Thalmer’s eyes on her. “Not to mention a little unnecessary,” he said, motioning for her to come towards him. “You’ve already felt it, haven’t you? Other times. In other fights.” The smirk was off his face. In one fluid motion, he stripped off the top half of the outer layer of his workout gear, a dark T-shirt underneath outlining his perfectly muscled physique. “It’s part of who you are, Monica. You don’t need to fight it.”

 

[siobhancan99]

She looked him over, all stupid and older and sexy. Fuck. She shifted a little "I already know how to fuck Thalmer. I don't need you to teach me that" She lashed out with a foot, trying for his knees. "besides, I can get my engine revved here, then go home and fuck my girlfriend." She kept telling herself that, in her head. She couldn't deny that she wanted to fuck pretty badly, but beating on someone (as Thalmer pointed out) always put her in that mood. So did perfect pecs and a washboard stomach. Which he had. and he was tall and he legitimately was not stronger... She inhaled and focused on the fight "I'm sure Gabi will be delighted to know that she gets laid more after I punch people."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer nodded, a hint of amusement on his lips. “I’m sure you don’t.” He got into a defensive posture now. “I’m glad I can be of service,” he said. “You know. Just being the humble help and all.” She managed to slip an attack by him and caught his knee fairly hard. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said, batting away some of Monica’s follow up attempts. “Show me something. You don’t have to hold back with me.”

They continued to spar. Monica was starting to get a sense of the Centauri’s capabilities as much as he was taking in hers. He was skilled, but maybe relied a bit too much on his superior strength and endurance. His final line of attacks knocked her on her ass. “Okay,” he said, crouching and extending a firm hand to her. “I think I’ve seen enough for now.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Letting him help her up, Monica regretted it instantly. She could smell his sweat, see his chiseled body straining against his tight T. She swallowed, wondering for just a second what it would be like to be lifted and pounded against the wall. She groaned and stepped back, turning red "Uh, yeah so. maybe you could teach me to use a weapon. That's what im really interested in." What she was interested in was his weapon alright. She needed to get the fuck out of there before she did something that would blow up her life.

 

[Halcyon638]

The Centauri’s blue eyes had a new intensity to them. “Something tells me you’re a fast learner.” Before Monica knew what was happening, Thalmer was quickly filling the space between them. The coolness of the December night air seemed to dissolve away as arms with a solidity that put Austin’s to shame wrapped around her. He leaned down toward her, his lips pressing firmly against her bare neck as his right hand touched the small of her back. “Come on. Show me what you know.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica's whole body screamed for this. Screamed for it in a way it had never screamed for Tom or Gabi. Still, she wasn't a slave to her body or her hormones. She pushed him back "no. and if we can't train without this then you go back to Michigan." She closed her eyes tight, not wanting to look at him, summoning up the last vestiges of her willpower as she struggled against her overamped libido.

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer took a step back, letting Monica slip from his grasp. By the time she had reopened her eyes, the Centauri warrior was standing several feet away. For a moment, she thought she was a glimpse of confusion on his face, but then his expression was neutral. “Of course,” he said nonchalantly. “Why don’t you get back to the girlfriend?” There was a slight undercurrent of something—jealousy? bitterness? mockery?—to the way he pronounced the last word. “I’ll be in town for one more day. But we can pick things up after your exams otherwise. Training,” he added as if to clarify.

When Monica arrived home, she could hear Gabi on the phone. “Fine. I think. There was this one question that I realized I got wrong like, five minutes after turning it in, but I think I did well otherwise. Yes. I will.” Pulling her face away from the phone, the dark-haired girl said, “Dad says ‘hi.’” She continued to talk with her father.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica felt a wave of guilt and headed in to take a shower. Under the water, she felt every drop hit her skin. She needed to get off, but felt ashamed of letting Thalmer work her up then taking advantage of Gabi. She wrangled with her guilt for a moment, then sighed and reached down between her legs. She let two fingers drift around her clit as she stood, water pounding her skin. She tugged on a nipple and moaned softly, then started circling with her fingers. She rubbed her lips against her clit, making circles faster and faster as she stood. She let the water sluice along her skin and wash her bad thoughts away, all the while toying with herself. She tried to focus on Gabi entirely, but her thoughts drifted to the feel of being lifted by the Centauri warrior, pinned, fucked good and hard against the wall. It was at that moment that she felt herself getting off, tension bleeding out of taut muscles. She grabbed the side of the shower for support, then shook her head to clear it.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Heyyy, querida,” Gabi said, wrapping her arms around Monica’s midsection as she stepped out of the bathroom and kissing the side of her neck. “How did training go? Did he, like, show you the Centauri death grip or something?” She squeezed Monica’s butt affectionately. “Wasn’t sure what time you were going to be back so I hit the dining hall with Layla and Hads. I was trying to hold out but I think my brain sucked up all my nutrients while I was cramming for Evo Bio.”

Gabi strolled to the kitchen, humming cheerily.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica felt another pang of guilt. She stared at her girl as she left and thought about just not bringing it up, but all her huge fights with Tom had been about things that one or the other of them had hidden even though it wasn't a big deal. And if it was a big deal, Gabi deserved to know. She groaned and steeled herself, feeling an anxiety that she'd never really felt before. She went out and cleared her throat "uh so. Thalmer uh. Tried to uh. Well" She shifted "He tried to fuck me." She brushed a hand through her blond hair "I guess when we uh, do violence, its hard wired into us to want to fuck and well. He grabbed me and was all very alpha about it. I stopped him and told him if he couldn't control himself we couldn't train anymore. if you ask me to, I'll just tell him not to come around anymore."

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi’s face fell. For a moment, the dark-haired girl froze. A few seconds later, she swept over to Monica, throwing her arms around her. “Oh my god. Are you okay? Did he hurt you?”

She pulled Monica tightly against her, kissing the side of her face and her forehead.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighs "I'm fine. He didn't rape me. Honestly." She inhales and tenses "I wanted to.Like, my body wanted to. I needed it so fucking bad. Like, its no joke. We're hard wired to fight and fuck apparently" she turns "but. I love you. I love you and I only want that with you. I know what I have here." She wraps her arms around Gabi "and what I have is amazing."

A few minutes later, she turned the topic to Tim and what happened at Rutgers "so yeah, i awkwardly told a kid that he's adopted and that his adoptive parents came to earth to conquer it. So... yeah its been a banner couple of fucking days." She groans, leaning back "He's the only lead I have really. My dad has another one but... Dad's not great at this stuff so I really need this to work out."

 

[Halcyon638]

A look of utter relief crossed Gabi’s face. She hugged Monica closely, then buried her head against the older girl’s chest. She kept her head there for a few moments. As Monica discussed her physical reaction to Thalmer, Gabi looked up, her deep brown eyes contemplative. She was silent, simply letting her girlfriend embrace her.

The dark-haired girl went and grabbed a glass of water as Monica discussed Tim. “Oof,” Gabi said. “That’s…that’s tough. I’m sure you…” She paused for a few seconds. “S-sorry. Lost my train of thought. I’m pretty tired. I’m sure you—you did the right thing. I mean…I’m going to get to bad. Okay, carino?”

The next day, Monica banged out the last half of her revised college writing paper. The day went quickly, helped along in part by a 5:00 deadline. That evening, Monica received an email from the burner account Tim had set up to contact her own encrypted email address.

“Brent Malone,” the email read. “I guess I should of been suspicious when this dude’s foundation gave me a full ride to Rutgers even tho like I said I wasn’t even that good a student. If you google him, he’s the Brent Malone that used to work for something called First Line? Apparently he stopped working there years ago and now he’s gone off to Canada. My mom says he has a house somewhere in Nova Scoita? I have a phone number and an email which I think is for his assistant because he had talked about me doing some kind of internship before. Does this help??”

Not long after, Monica received a text. “Are you ready to learn something tonight?” the message from the Michigan area code asked.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed. Her suspicions that first line were relying in some fashion on Centauri tech seemed to bear out. +1 for her. She wondered though, now, if the theft of the suit wasn't maybe Malone. No. probably still the Imperial. Damn Imperial. She'd been so focused on all this. She rubbed her temples. At least things had been quiet. She wondered if the metal man was in custody. Her mind was all over the place. She inhaled, then exhaled. Looking down at her phone she texted back "not tonight. Gotta track down some guy about a thing. Superhero stuff." She put her phone down and groaned, then threw herself into looking for Brent Malone and waiting for Gabi to get home. She figured if she included Gabi in the search it might both help her, and help Gabi feel like part of the team.

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer replied shortly after. “Can I help? I hear you don’t have a sidekick.”

Gabi perked up at the possibility of helping with her search. As Monica did some Googling sitting on her bed, Gabi sat at Monica’s desk and did the same while simultaneously watching Zoe stream a game where you played as a Victorian chimney sweep. “It’s getting kind of cold in here,” Gabi said, pulling her hood over her hair. “I hope it’s not going to be like this all next semester.” As if in response, the wind howled outside.

After about a half hour, Monica found some information regarding Brent Malone and the charitable organization through which Tim had been provided his scholarship, the Janet C. Day Foundation. There were some references to it buying property on Warrington, a small island off the Nova Scotia coast.

Gabi also pulled two local news articles about a ship traveling to Warrington 3 years ago carrying $400,000 worth of building materials for the island’s unnamed owner that went down in a bad storm, albeit with 0 casualties. “Wow. Sounds like he’s got private island money. Must be nice.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Replying, Monica texted back "doing some boring research. you can come for the door kicking. You gotta wear green briefs and weird ankle boots though."

She snuggled in against Gabi when her girl complained "we we will be home for the worst around christmas. by the time the semester is in really full swing it will be February. Plus i'll be here to keep you warm baby" she kissed her temple, then looked over the island "you know since you're gonna be a doctor i'm relying on you to be the one of us with private island money."