Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[siobhancan99]

"Uh. yeah we should be" Monica slipped her hand into Gabi's. She really wanted a shower after working out with Thalmer, but she wanted to spend time with Gabi more. She slipped her own coat on and started heading out with her girl "I'm gonna have to head to Pittsburgh at some point in the near future. I think some of my people are down there, from the wrong side of things." She shifted "probably not strong. like my dad. but still I might have to get a handle on it. I at the very least have to assess how loyal they are to their masters back at home." She spoke low, leaning in so really only Gabi could hear her "But I don't have to head out until my dad narrows down who they are."

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi brushed a snowflake off Monica’s nose, smiling. “Okay. Thanks for the heads up.” The younger girl asked her lover about how training went and vented a bit about her day. One of the pharmacists didn’t have the greatest people skills and had called out her and Kendra in front of a customer for a billing error that was a result of miscommunication on the pharmacist’s part.

As expected, the next afternoon, James was able to dig up some information on who he suspected to be the source of the messages outside of Pittsburgh. Monica was finishing up a solo D&D adventure that she and had Gabi had started over the week when he called. “The messages seem to be coming from a woman named Natalie Gray. Mid-30s, widowed. Works for a chemical engineering firm in Pittsburgh. That was about all I’ve been able to dig up so far.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"lets see if we can't figure out an address. Pittsburgh isn't that big but its still too big for me to just knock on doors. do they communicate at regular times? we should be able to get a fix on the signal if we go down there."

She also dug into the woman's social media. the age was off, weird. Mid 30s would make her a teenager when Monica was born, though the homeworld didn't explode for a few more years, so a very young recruit to be sent to earth. Still it made sense in a way. Young people didn't have large histories to fake. Slip them into a university and they make their own. Probably an indoctrinated cult member from birth though. Likely hard to shake. Still as a millennial she boringly had a LinkedIn and of course Facebook. "clinging to the old ways."

 

[Halcyon638]

James provided Monica with the address for a small town just outside of Pittsburgh. The woman’s social media profiles were sparse. She had the striking beauty of all of the Centauri people Monica had met, with olive-hued skin and long, straight, fair hair. She mostly seemed to post about her two children, a boy of approximately 9 or 10 named Josh, and a girl of about 12 or thirteen named Anna. There were several images of her at various school functions and baking cookies for holidays, plus a few from an engineering conference she’d attended in Seattle. A few posts making reference to a man named Mike were found, but none more recent than about a year ago.

 

[siobhancan99]

The kids were a problem. A single woman she might be able to bring herself to kill, but leaving kids without a mother hit a certain spot for her, particularly in light of their absent father. Still, this lady was part of a cult that killed hundreds of millions of Centauri and that didn't seem to get her to leave the damn cult so... things might have to happen. She could make it to Pittsburgh tonight and back in time to go out the next day easily, as it was a short jaunt. Waiting for dark she fired up the sliver and headed to Pittsburgh, grateful for the hilly topography in that part of the state to disguise her coming and going.

 

[Halcyon638]

The Gray house was on a sleepy side road with considerable distance between neighboring houses. It was a good size, with two floors and a two-car garage. As Monica approached, she saw several lights on downstairs and a single light upstairs. Through the windows, she could make out the flashing of a television or computer screen in a room downstairs and see the silhouette of an adult occasionally walking back and forth.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica wore sweats and a hoodie over her armor, she bowed her head and put her armored hands in the pocket of the hoodie, then walked to the front door and rang the bell assuming the kids would be in bed as it was a school night. maybe not the older one. She slipped her gloved hands back in to hide them, figuring the woman would talk to her through her Ring camera or whatever first.

 

[Halcyon638]

After a long silence, Monica heard a voice. “Hello?” a woman said. “Can I help you?” Somewhere inside, a dog barked.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica figured it was best to be direct, so in Centauri she said "We should talk. We can do it through the door but it is cold and your neighbors will think its weird so maybe let me in"

 

[Halcyon638]

There was another pause. In Centauri, the woman replied, "Who are you?" The dog continued to bark in the background.

 

[siobhancan99]

"I'm someone from home who could be a friend to you or not, depending on the next few minutes. and who is currently freezing her ass off when she could be sending a message home about what you get up to in your spare time. Please just open the door."

 

[Halcyon638]

“No. Not here,” the woman said icily in Centauri. “There’s a park about 5 miles from here. Weiss Park. I can meet you in one hour."

 

[siobhancan99]

"Fair enough" Monica had the sliver. If the woman was going to bolt, she could watch for it. She got in the ship and sat in the warmth, watching the house till someone left. She figured the woman might run, but if she did she'd be hampered by carrying a child or trying to run with a 9 year old.

 

[Halcyon638]

While Monica was sitting in the Sliver and waiting, she received a text from Gabi. “Going to bed soon. Be safe, mi vida.” After sitting for a while, Monica saw the garage door open and a red Subaru emerged. Following the vehicle, she found that it was headed for Weiss Park as promised.

The park was a moderate wooded area ringing a pond, now frozen over. Gray parked her vehicle and got out, alone, illuminated by a nearby streetlight. She was dressed in a charcoal-colored peacoat and her dirty blonde hair streamed down from under a round burgundy winter hat. She looked even more striking somehow in person than she did in her photos.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica was struck by how much the woman resembled her mother, though around the age Monica was 7 or so. Though Centauri didn't age much. Her mother still looked good. She jumped down out of the sliver, then made her way over to the woman. "I'm guessing you've seen me on television. So yeah, confirmation. One of us. You're Natalie. At least that's what your papers say? I'm the Nighthawk."

She paused a moment "This is super awkward. I mean. Obviously. I'm... interested in this being just a chat." Honestly she was glad the woman left her kids in the house. If she had to kill her, there'd be nobody to ID her. "but obviously, given the circumstances and you being a member of an organization that killed a billion people well. I hope you can understand why people would want a word. About the totality."

 

[Halcyon638]

The woman’s face twisted with rage. “What did you say?” She crossed her arms across her chest. “Who are you? Who’s told you these lies? Take off your mask,” she demanded.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica was taken aback but she was glad she didn't go in hard. "Someone in your house is communicating with someone at home quoting passages of the totality religious texts. Your kids are a little young for that, so unless you're hiding a fourth person in there... you can see why there'd be some concern. I apologize if I was wrong, but if I am wrong and you're not the one regularly sending coded messages back home then I think it behooves us to figure out with a quickness who is."

 

[Halcyon638]

The woman’s face softened into an expression of concern or even..sadness? “I don’t know who’s feeding you these lies,” Gray said, “but I’m not surprised. So many of us here have been fed nothing but deception about our history. Our heritage. The Totality is not what you think it is. What have you been told?” She raised her voice to compete against a sudden howling wind.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica shifted her weight "I have personal experience. I have had my mind invaded by one of your leaders. I have felt his evil for myself. I have been subjected to his power and only through luck was I able to pull away. Your group might have knowledge of the Centauri past, but knowing things is not the same as virtue."

 

[Halcyon638]

The woman’s light hair fluttered in the winter wind and her eyes widened. “You…you’ve been communing with…one of the Elites?” She took two steps toward Monica and for a moment, it seemed as if the older woman was about to reach for her hands. Something in Monica’s posture, perhaps, stopped her. “The Totality isn’t evil. It’s quite the opposite. For hundreds of years, our people have lost purpose. Lost meaning. When we’ve tried to bring our race back from the brink of complete and utter ruin and emptiness, we’ve been rewarded with bloodshed, imprisonment, torture. There is so much that you need to know,” she stated, a note of what resembled pity in her voice.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded. "yes. One of the Elites. In fact the Elite of Elites. You know what that communion consisted of? Him undressing me in my head and molesting me. Like a fucking rapist." Monica tugged her mask off so the woman could see her face and read the truth in her expression. "He invaded my mind, and undressed me and touched me all over and I'm sure it would have gone farther if I hadn't broken free of his will. Is that the new way? is that the salvation of our people?" She sat on a nearby picnic table. "you're a scientist. you have good critical thinking skills. I want you to answer me this. Two forces are struggling to control the world. One force is already on top. It relies on a large population with an advanced technical and industrial base. It is a complex society and economy with a lot of moving parts, but all of those parts are specifically designed to prop up that one side. The other side is small, has limited resources, is demeaned within the larger society and has absolutely no hope in a military struggle against the first force. Which of those two forces has an incentive to smash the society, and which does not?"

 

[Halcyon638]

The woman listened, silently seething. “More lies,” she hissed. “All of that—politics, logistics, control—all of that is meaningless in the eyes of the Vast, don’t you understand? We have no other purpose but to do their will. And anyone who opposes that will—with weapons, or lies and deception—shall be cast into the unending void.” Gray leapt at Monica now, bare hands outstretched and aimed at her neck.

"You need to understand."

 

[siobhancan99]

'Well that's what I get for trying to be diplomatic' She sighed, hating that she was going to be taking this woman's kids from her but it was apparently for the best. She ducked, then tried to use the woman's momentum to toss her into a nearby tree headfirst.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica timed it perfectly. She easily launched the charging woman over her shoulder, and there was a hard crunch as Gray bounced off the tree onto the partly frozen ground. It was an injury that would have taken down some human marines. Instead, the woman rose shakily, blood streaming from her nose.

Stumbling to her feet as Monica closed in, she lashed out with a backhand that very nearly connected with Monica’s chin. “You are nothing.” Still off-balance, the older woman began doing her best to approximate a defensive stance once more. “You are less than nothing.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica dropped and swept for the woman's legs. She needed to knock her out and take her somewhere else. She also needed her alive to access her phone and delete her Ring footage. She was resigned to killing her, and chided herself for simply not doing so. She'd been wanting to spare the children, but it was obvious the woman was a true believer and the worst kind of fanatic.