Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer nodded. “You know, you’re really pretty when you talk about doing crimes.” Grinning, he said, “I like it. Leave the explosives to me. I can get us a car, too, no problem. I also may be able to arrange us a getaway driver. Thoughts?” He leaned back against the window frame.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica grinned "be gay, do crimes. its my new motto" She winked and blew Thalmer a little kiss. "I appreciate all the help with this. Humans don't need to be playing around in our pool. What's ours must remain ours. If I see anything that looks Centauri while i'm in there I'll snag it, and maybe any prototypes they're developing off the tech. Honestly, I'd love to destroy the lab but... again. Terrorist watch list kinda shit. If you can get us a trustworthy driver that would be great. I'm not in love with the notion of having to confront or hurt law enforcement."

 

[Halcyon638]

When Monica expressed her gratitude at his assistance, the older man said, “Sure, no problem. Just remember me when you’re Space Empress and you’re appointing a Minister of Orgies or something.”

Thalmer nodded at Monica’s plan. “That makes sense. I can’t promise I’ll be able to buy you a ton of time, but anything you can snag along the way, it makes sense. It shouldn’t be a problem to find a driver either. I’m in—”

They heard what sounded like a woman’s scream erupt from not too far away. “Did I just hear—”

Thalmer’s question was interrupted by another shriek. He rushed outside, trying to focus in on the source of the sound.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica cussed inwardly as she didn't have her nighthawk gear, but with Thalmer's help people probably wouldn't think too hard about a couple coming to someone's rescue. Monica ran out, looking around, trying to focus in at the same time as Thalmer, also looking around to see if anything was evident or there were any signs of struggle.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica heard another cry, though this time, stifled. She and Thalmer followed the sound which took them past two abandoned buildings. In a dingy parking lot, two men were dragging two bound women toward a black van. One of the men had his head mostly shaved and had multiple piercings, while the other was blond-haired with Cyrillic characters tattooed on his neck. The man with the shaved head held a gun in his hand and both women were sobbing. “What did I say about screaming?” the blond-haired man asked. “She is good girl,” he said, pointing to one of the women, “she no scream. We are going to be so more nicer to her, do you understand?”

 

[siobhancan99]

"cover your face" Monica said, low enough for Thalmer to hear but not for it to carry. She wriggled under her sweatshirt, getting her tank off, then tied it around her lower face as an impromptu mask. Looking around, she found a rock, and when she was sure Thalmer had taken steps to hamper later identification, she hurled the rock with all her considerable, if not prodigious strength, trying to hit one of the guys with it and at least serve as a distraction.

 

[Halcyon638]

The blond-haired man seemed to notice Monica at the last moment, but it didn’t save him from being struck hard in the chin by the chunk of stone she threw his way. He let out a grunt as it connected and blood pooled along his jawline, his facial expression turning into sheer rage. “What the fuck?”

Thalmer strode toward the two men, taking advantage of the distraction but still playing it a bit cautious in his movements. “You know, you fuckheads are just reinforcing stereotypes about guys who drive around in vans.” He launched a kick toward the thug with the shaved head. The criminal recovered quickly enough to duck under the attack, though. “I don’t appreciate it.”

The blond-haired man looked at both Monica and Thalmer as he reached into his coat and produced a pistol. He muttered something in a Slavic language and then fired the weapon at Thalmer, who rushed forward to avoid it.

The man with the shaved head was still getting his wits about him as Monica and Thalmer prepared to attack again.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica charged, trying to jack the man she hit up against the van. "This is the part where you run" she called out to the screaming woman, hoping that they were in condition enough to take off. She was mindful of the pistols, definitely not wanting to get shot, but that siren song of battle was ringing in her blood, and there was no backing down from this fight.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s shoulder slammed into the man and crunched him against the vehicle, sending him sliding to the ground in a heap. The woman, still screaming against her gag, hurried away from the firefight, soon followed by the other.

“You don’t have the slightest idea who you’re fucking with, do you?” Thalmer said as he made his way toward the other man, attempting to catch him with a right hook while still bobbing and weaving to throw off any attempts to lock onto him with the gun. The blow was on target, but the not-unimposing thug was able to block it with his forearms, minimizing the impact. A mix of frustration and disbelief appeared on Thalmer's face.

Taking a few steps back, the criminal fired at Thalmer but missed badly. At the same moment, another man emerged from the driver’s seat of the van, then began raising his pistol.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica only had a split second. she could tip the van pretty easily and probably put the fear of god into these guys, but might get shot. Alternatively, she could go for the gun. Going for the gun seemed the best course and so she launched herself for the guy, aiming a punch for his head, assuming he'd at least instinctively duck and maybe spoil his shot and better yet she might just connect.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica felt her fist crunch hard against the man’s forehead, sending him back against the door of the vehicle and cracking the window glass. He slid to the ground without a sound. About ten feet away, Thalmer launched a flurry of punches, finally connecting with an uppercut that visibly lifted the thug’s shoes off the ground and sent him sprawling onto the cold pavement.

“Well, obviously you’ve been paying close attention to my lessons,” the Centauri said with a smirk, face flushed and breathing hard as sirens sounded nearby. “Looks like the women got away.” He grabbed hold of Monica’s hand and pulled her down a narrow alleyway. “Come on.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"yeah cause i never fought a russian with a gun before you" She smirked but it wasn't visible, what with her impromptu mask. She shouted back over her shoulder "this is Imperial territory, bitches" then made a rude gesture as she fled, hoping to cause some issues among the criminal element in town.

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer grinned in response to Monica’s quip and then the two Centauri slipped into the alleyway, the passageway cutting their travel time back to the under-construction building where they’d been meeting up.

“Well, that was fun,” he remarked. “Now I can see why you do it. Though I guess I’d still be in it mainly for the beating people up, not so much saving humans.” Gathering his gear, Thalmer said, “Let’s aim for Friday night. That’ll give me an extra day to arrange a driver. Meet up here, say, 11:00?” It was an hour and a half drive from their destination.

 

[siobhancan99]

Friday came, still bitter cold. She was glad for the suit. S She checked the voice modulator a few times to make sure it both didnt sound like her and didnt sound like the Nighthawk. Confident she'd be in the clear, she waited for Thalmer. She arrived a little early, as she didn't want him to worry or get caught. Looking around, she kept a wary eye out for both him and any kind of trouble.

 

[Halcyon638]

When Monica arrived, Thalmer informed her they’d have about a 45-minute ride together to where they’d meet up with the driver. They got into his van and headed out, “London Calling” playing on the stereo. “Grabbed you a cup of coffee just in case,” he noted as he lowered the volume. As they drove onto the highway, the lights of Prospect City dwindled to small specks in Monica’s rearview mirror.

About 15 minutes into the drive, Thalmer said, “So. What makes a college student dress up in all black and spend her nights beating up gangsters? You know. When she’s not spending her nights getting sweaty with a handsome dude twice her age.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed "I thought I told you. its hard to remember." She sighed and looked out the window "My parents raised me to be normal. Stay out of the limelight. So I had a normal American life. Go to school. I was on the swim team. I had to come in second. Honestly i'm so dense i'm surprised i float to be honest. But you know, I'm pretty and I'm from a town where there's not much to do but drive around and listen to music and screw in some farmer's field. But I wanted more than that and you know, science. That was gonna be my out. And there was a guy. A beautiful amazing guy that was popular and smart and funny. We were like... the IT couple for a year. He went to school ahead of me."

She got quiet a moment. It was fresh, reliving it all again. She swallowed and inhaled "So one night, his idiot younger brother was drunk and high and in a part of the city he had no business being in, and these two country boys who were used to driving everywhere never thought a moment about getting an Uber or something. So Ian called Tom and Tom went to go get him. And on a dark street right by his dorm some fucking punk shot him for his keys and stole his car. There's some grainy footage from the cash machine security camera nearby." She blinked away some tears "and just like that, this... beautiful amazing man was gone. He was dead and it was so fucking unfair and I just wanted to die. Then when I stopped wanting to die all I wanted to do was kill. I wanted to kill them all. Every fucking scumbag piece of shit who lived by the gun in Prospect City. But that's no way to live. I'd have just turned into another Centauri cliche. So I sat and ... I know this concept is probably revolting as a Centauri but I unpacked my feelings and decided that to the extent that I could stop someone else from feeling like I felt, I had an obligation to do it. Then I started doing it and well. I'm not gonna lie. It is therapeutic to break someone's ribs with my fists. If they're bad. of course."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer listened and then was silent for a good while after Monica’s disclosure. “Fuck. I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to…dredge things up. I figured it was something like that, but…” He took his hands off the steering wheel as they approached a stoplight. “Just chalk it up to me having the emotional intelligence of a stack of cord wood.”

Clearing his throat, he added, “Anyway, we should be about ten minutes out from meeting up with our driver.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica shrugged "you're fine. What i do is weird. It is natural to be curious about it." she leaned back in her seat "so who is this driver? one of us? some shredded hobo who wanders the earth having adventures and shit like cain from kung fu?" She looked out the window "I'm not even sure what that means. I just know it from Pulp Fiction."

 

[Halcyon638]

Thalmer grinned. “She’s one of us. Centauri. I’ve worked with her on a few jobs. Not the most talkative type, but she’s a pro.”

After another 15 minutes or so, they pulled into an abandoned train yard where a blue SUV was waiting. A woman in a brown bomber jacket and jeans stepped out. Like Thalmer, she looked as if she was in her early thirties, with striking features and her brown hair shaved down to just a thin layer atop her head. “Hey there,” Thalmer said. She eyed Monica and Thalmer with an impatient look.

“Let’s go,” she said tersely, turning and getting back into the vehicle.

“Hello to you, too.” He settled into the back of the car, and the woman immediately started up the vehicle. As they were driving, Thalmer checked his suit’s systems. Most notably, Sutter had included a device that made them all but invisible to surveillance cameras and other electronic recording devices for up to 60 seconds at a time before needing to recharge for 120 seconds.

The 45 minutes passed slowly, but eventually, they were approaching the road that led to the complex. The five-story building was surprisingly nondescript and a little dated. There was a visible security presence in a checkpoint that waited in the drive leading up to it. The building itself appeared dark, though there were plenty of exterior lights to illuminate the grounds approaching the structure.

 

[siobhancan99]

"So we're not all blond. I mean I assumed not. Hard for us to infiltrate other countries if we were" She chuckled and threw her packs in the car, then sat quietly through the drive. This felt wrong, and necessary. She wasn't a thief but... at the end of the day she guessed Helix WAS given that they had stolen alien tech. What was nice is that the word couldn't really go out on this sort of thing without drawing unwanted attention to the company, so this might be relatively consequence-free. At least on its face. When they got to the facility she looked over the checkpoint "probably easier to get past that on foot. Lets go in from opposite sides. I'll scale the building and then you start the ruckus."

 

[Halcyon638]

The Centauri woman drove past the road leading to the checkpoint, then stopped not far down the highway. Monica and Thalmer passed through a wooded area until they were about 100 feet from the building itself. She couldn’t see any security guards visible, but slowly made her way to the side of the building, sticking to the shadows and avoiding the security lights as best as she could, the suit making a barely audible humming sound as she activated the surveillance-scrambling feature.

Soon, she was pressed against a wall of the structure, powering down the suit for exactly 2 minutes to let it recharge.

 

[siobhancan99]

Creeping along, she waited in the dark on the opposite side of the building from the main entrance. She waited for Thalmer to make some noise, then fired her grappling hook, trying to snare the roof of the building so she could climb to the third floor more easily, and get in through a window while security was distracted.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica heard shouting from the front of the building, both Thalmer and then other people. The grappling hook easily hooked onto the roof, and she was able to glide upwards to the 3rd floor. As she expected, the windows of the building appeared to be made of safety glass. Thalmer had secured her 3 explosives as promised.

The window she was now pressed against revealed what appeared to be a sizeable lab, with several computers and various stations for testing various devices. There was no one in the room, and no lights were on, as seemed to be the case with most of the facility.

 

[siobhancan99]

Placing the charge,Monica then swung away so she wouldnt be caught in any sort of blowback or anything. what with the force radiating outwards in all directions. she swung into the window then, having a look around and trying to get her bearings.

 

[Halcyon638]

Just a moment or two before the charge exploded, Monica heard the sound of two gunshots from the front side of the building. The charge weakened the window enough for her to smash through it and set off what sounded like a fire alarm in the darkened room. Using her night vision, she scanned the room but didn’t see anything comparable to the mock-up of the device Sutter had sent her an image of. There was a single door in the room.