Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

Monica couldn't shake the feeling that there was a connection between Zoe's text and Gabi's absence. She hated herself for it and put it down to unreasonable jealousy, but at the same time Gabi and the little blond had been corresponding a lot before the first threesome, and then a lot before the second one. Despite Gabi's statement Zoe was into Monica, it was pretty clear that she was into Gabi... and that Gabi wasn't exactly immune to that. Still, she had to trust that whatever flirtation was going on was just that. Also, Tom and her mother had taught her that you can't live your life thinking someone was always going to be there. She had to get an internship. Gabi would still want to fuck Zoe after dinner, or not as the case may be. The career fair was not going to wait. Still, it was hard not to stew.
 
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The STEM Career Fair was an impressively huge event, though not entirely surprising considering Prospect City’s status as the latest and hottest tech hub. Attendees decked out in perfectly tailored suits and crisply ironed skirts walked alongside those adhering to the Zuckerberg school of tech-bro fashion, with hoodies and pop culture T-shirts abounding. “See, I knew I was overdressed. This is what I get for letting Curtis dress me,” Nick said as they approached the metal detectors. Security appeared pretty tight, again not surprisingly given that it was rumored the CEO of consumer tech giant Weel was going to make an appearance. Alright. Let’s sell our souls to some megacorp!”

There were, in fact, massive areas set aside for giants like Weel, First Line, HelixCorp, and InnoVenture, and corresponding massive crowds of would-be applicants. Monica found herself waiting in a teeming line for a chance to speak with someone from the defense contractor, First Line. Across the crowded room, she caught a glimpse of Morgan, apparently interviewing someone for the school newspaper.

“You know, I bet you if you slipped away from this line right now to come have a friendly chat with me, this whole line would thin out a lot more,” a woman’s voice said. “Plus, we have the best frisbees. Everyone knows it.”

A late 20-something with wavy auburn hair, immaculate professional attire, and a disarming smile stood near Monica, trying to lure her toward the kiosk for a company called Vigil. Her name tag read Abigail. It took Monica a moment to place the company name. It had been outside the headquarters of Vigil, a private security contractor, that she had encountered Killstreak for the first time, as he set about trying to murder their CEO on his livestream. There was a photo of the CEO, a square-jawed middle-aged man with a neatly trimmed, greying beard, on the wall behind Abigail. On the table in front of her were branded plastic flying discs and keychains.
 
Monica considered a moment. First Line might let her sniff out Centauri tech but... Vigil would let her identify why its CEO was targeted by the Imperial. Plus the line was shorter. All things to recommend it. She nodded and moved over to the Vigil line, smiling at the girl "Hi there." looking over the accoutrements "Im Monica." She smiled and looked for the name tag "nice to meet you Abigail. Why should I work for Vigil instead of First Line? besides frisbees."
 
“Nice to meet you,” Abigail said, beaming. “That is an excellent question, Monica. First of all, I can totally understand why you would want to work for First Line. They are doing some incredibly exciting work and they have some of the best and brightest talent. I definitely won’t discourage you from applying there, too.”

Shifting tones, she said, “Now, let me tell you a little something about Vigil. First of all, private security is a big growth area and we project it’s only going to get bigger in the years to come. I mean, think about all of the crazy things we’ve seen in this city just over the past 6 months—like, actual monsters and metal men and all of that. Secondly, Vigil is still a relatively new company, so there is lots of room to grow with and within the company. What are you majoring in?”

When Monica informed her about her major, Abigail nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, great! We have several major projects where we’re actively recruiting electrical engineers and we have plenty of internship opportunities for all types of engineers. We’re also looking to rapidly expand our operations outside of the US and UK, so if you’re looking to live or intern abroad, you’ll have tons of great opportunities.” Shifting her tone to a more casual one, she said, “I just got back from Lisbon a few months ago. I can’t recommend it highly enough.”

She seamlessly resumed her pitch. “We also believe in giving back to our communities. Our COO served in Afghanistan and we do a lot of work with veterans—hiring them, charitable events, all sorts of things.”

The young woman took a sip of water. “So, tell me about yourself.”
 
"oh, Small town girl. My dad is an engineer as was his father and probably his father before him. you know how it goes. Um, I'm a freshman. So, probably you know... more the getting coffee and taking notes kind of intern I'm guessing." She laughed, self-deprecatingly. "Uh, bit of a film buff not that that really has anything to do with the job? I thought briefly of being an actress but you know. I was smart enough to understand that mostly i'd be a waitress hoping for someone to take a chance on me. So. yeah. Engineering." She grinned "what do you do for the company?"
 
“Our interns actually get a lot of hands-on experience in their field, so you don’t have to worry about spending your days getting coffee and bagel orders right. Been there, done that.” Abigail said. “You know, we do have an office in Los Angeles, so if you wanted to split your time between working for us and auditions…”

The woman’s eyes went to Monica’s resume. “My official title is Talent Acquisition Specialist, but basically, I'm a recruiter. Would you like me to take a look at that?" She began looking it over, nodding enthusiastically, asking for a little more detail on certain bullet points. Abigail explained a little more about the company’s operations, which it sounded like involved handling security details for VIPs and major events, ranging from conferences to sporting events.

“Here’s my card,” Abigail said, extending the rectangle of cardstock. “Definitely reach out if you have any other questions! Russell, our COO is actually going to be giving a talk a little later this afternoon, so make sure to catch it! Maybe I’ll see you there.”

As Abigail had predicted, the line for First Line had thinned, and before too long, Monica was standing in front of a 40-something African-American man with a thin mustache named Patrice, who was decked out in khakis, a light blue dress shirt, and a tie covered with cartoon cats. “Good afternoon,” he said, “what can I tell you about First Line?”
 
Monica hmmmed. She wanted to see the guy speak, but she also wanted to go back to check on Gabi. She made a note to try to get in both. She'd have to uber but it might be worth it. "Maybe you will!" she nodded to the girl, then also scanned the code to upload her resume to HR that was on the table.

Moving over to the First Line table, finally in front of someone from the company she smiled "I guess my big question is, what are you looking for exactly? If I know that I can explain to you why I'm a good match. I already know you have your fingers in a lot of pies, regarding cutting edge tech, so if you could tell me how your internship program factors into the work you do and your expectations we can have a better conversation about fit."
 
“Absolutely, Ms.,” Patrice stated. “We are looking for interns in a wide range of exciting positions. What’s your major?” He smiled at Monica’s response. “Excellent. Right now, we are looking for interns in our materials engineering division, particularly in our metallurgical and composites engineering divisions. We have some extremely exciting projects that I can’t go into too much detail about—national security, but I can tell you we’re talking everything from amazing new prosthetics to lighter and lighter aircraft. You would be supporting some of our finest researchers and learning as you go. We have electrical engineering students placed with our robotics division testing and refining prototypes of the latest and greatest tech.”

Pausing for a moment, he says, “Now, a lot of our interns have only really started to get their feet wet in the specifics of their majors, but there are some key skills we’re looking for and that you may already bring to the table. One, you obviously have to be comfortable with math. We’re also looking for people who are passionate about solving problems and willing to take things apart and put them back together a hundred times to figure out how something works. Analytical skills. Are you perceptive? Communication. You are going to be part of a team. How well do you communicate? Both on a technical level but also being willing to listen to other perspectives and bring out the strengths of your teammates. We think even an intern has leadership capabilities they should be comfortable bringing to the table even if you won’t be taking on a leadership role per se. Sometimes that’ll mean saying to your supervisor, ‘hey, I think there’s a better way to do this.’ ”

Patrice adjusted his glasses. “Does that sound like an environment you could fit into?” A blank screen nearby showed Morgan's reflection, cluing Monica into the fact that the journalism student was right behind her in line.
 
Monica nodded "Math's never been an issue. I'm also something of a go-getter and a problem solver. I don't rely on traditional methods. I think really you have to look at the whole of a situation and can't just rely on the same things over and over again to solve every issue." She thought a moment "as for other perspectives, well from my own the whole point of an internship is to soak up whatever everyone else has to offer. TO get in there, and see what people with more experience and more knowledge are doing, learn their processes. I'm obviously not going to be throwing my weight around as the freshman intern" She laughed "but i'm comfortable getting my point of view across." She couldn't help but wonder what Morgan was doing, after all he was a journalist. Maybe he wanted to write press releases for them or something.
 
“Great!” Patrice said. He asked Monica a few more questions about a project she’d completed that had interested her in the past, and offered up some more information about First Line.

Morgan had a slightly amused look on his face as Monica stepped away. “Hey there. Think I can get a few quotes from you after? For the whole women in STEM angle?”

Monica made the rounds to some other employers, ranging from local and federal government agencies, to burgeoning start-ups, to well-established, household-name companies. There was a break where the attendees made their way to tables furnished with ample food and additional swag. Nick rejoined Monica. Afterwards, there were a series of panels that she could choose to attend, with subjects including AI, space exploration, biomedical breakthroughs. Vigil’s COO Russell Katis was set to give what sounded like a fairly generic presentation about resilience.

“So,” Nick said, in between bites of a chocolate-caramel cookie, “how’s it going? I hate this stuff. I just want to be like, ‘hey, I uploaded my resume, so…read that?' ”
 
Mon nodded "honestly Gabi said she's sick so i'm gonna run home and check on her, then i'm going to try to make it back for Katis' talk. It sounds like bullshit but part of me wonders if someone will try to kill him again so you know. at least there might be a show."

She tried to make it a joke, but she was definitely coming back suited up and not as herself. She'd taken too much of a risk fighting Metallo or whatever his name was. "Text me if anything blows up"

She quickly extricated herself, snagging an uber to get home faster. She made herself be as quiet as she could, trying to open the door without being heard as she entered the apartment.
 
Nick wiped a glob of caramel off his chin with his napkin. “Oh, bummer. You should grab her some cookies or something.”

The computer science major’s eyes widened, “Oh, shit—that’s right! I forgot that dude almost got killed. I think that was the CEO, though. This guy’s what—the COO? CFO? CFUFO? Apparently, they couldn’t swing the #1 guy for this thing. Weaksauce.”

Nick nodded. “Will keep you posted,” he said.

When Monica returned to her apartment, she managed to stealthily make her way in. The lights were on in Gabi’s bedroom, and her girlfriend was talking in soft, measured tones. She could faintly hear what sounded like another female voice, though filtered through the speakers of a device. The walls of their bedrooms were thin enough, Monica knew from experience, that pressing herself against the wall would most likely allow her to hear at least Gabi’s side of the conversation.
 
Monica at once felt a little guilty about not trusting her girl, but also vindicated because things sounded exactly as she expected they'd sound. Gabi..."too sick" to come out... talking to zoe. At least that's how it seemed. Who knew. Maybe she'd hear something that made her feel shitty for not trusting Gabi and that would ultimately be good. She pressed her ear to the wall, listening a minute.
 
“You’re right,” Monica heard Gabi admit in a somewhat distressed tone. “I need to. But…”

There was the faint hint of the other female voice. Imperceptible.

“Yeah. I guess.” The Latina sounded glum. “Thank you. I’m sorry again.”

Monica heard the murmur of the other speaker for a moment. “See you next week,” Gabi said in a neutral tone. A moment later, Monica heard the click of a laptop closing.
 
MOnica hmmmed. She'd violated Gabi's privacy for nothing. great. She slipped into her armor, then threw some baggy sweats on over it. She took a cookie over to Gabi's door and knocked "hey. how you feelin" loud enough that the other girl would know she was there.
 
After a few moments, Gabi appeared at the door. “Hey,” she said, her shiny black hair pulled back in a ponytail. She was dressed leggings and a black T-shirt, and there was a hint of redness and puffiness to her eyes as if she’d recently been crying. “I’m doing okay. Just a little stomach thing. You came back early?”

Seeing the cookie, the Latina wrapped her arms tightly around Monica. "Aww. Thank you, sweetie." She patted her girlfriend’s Centauri bodysuit. “What’s this?” she asked.
 
"the CEO if Vigil is giving a talk at the career fair. I figured i'd go dressed for trouble in case whoever tried to kill him before christmas tries again. Its probably a 1 percent chance but rather than deal with trying to disguise myself and fight..." she shrugged "probably ill just be sitting in the dark bored to tears while he talks about bootstraps or some sort of right wing bullshit that ignores class distinctions in the American ostensible meritocracy."

She reached out and cupped Gabi's face, drawing a thumb across her cheekbone "so why have you been crying babe? what's up?"
 
Gabi’s eyes widened. “Oh…I forgot about that.” She put her arms over Monica’s shoulders. “Please be careful, carino.”

She managed the semblance of a smile for a second. “It’s…it’s nothing…nothing big. We can talk about it later. It sounds like…like you need to be there. Just in case.”

Gabi kissed Monica’s cheek.
 
Monica shook her head "it doesn't sound like I need to be there. I'm not doing this to protect oligarchs. So tell me what's up with you."
 
A pained expression crossed Gabi’s face. “Are you sure? It’s…” She stopped, pushing a lock of stray, dark hair away from her face, then made her way over to the table. The younger girl slid out a chair and sat. “So…I was on my way back from the gym this morning and…Thalmer came up to me. It was…I was a little weirded out. I had no idea why he was coming up to me. It kind of freaked me out that he knew where I was, but…”

Gabi took a moment and breathed. “I know he’s…he’s into you, or whatever you want to call it. Which…whatever. So…I know he was probably just saying whatever he could to like, fuck with me or with you or what.”

She grabbed a napkin on the table and began playing with the corner, tearing off small scraps. “So, he comes up to me, and he’s like, ‘hey, I know you don’t know me, but I really have to talk to you.’ He’s like, ‘I really have to talk to you because I think you have the right to know certain things.’”

Gabi continued tearing the paper. “So, basically…he says that you had talked to him about me, and about you and Tom. He said that…” She took a second to swallow. “That you felt that no one was ever going to make you feel the way that Tom did. He said that you told him dating your best friend felt safe but that you just felt like you were going through the motions. He said something like, ‘why do you think she’d be going out at night and risking her life if you were…if you weren’t really still in love with Tom. He said he...he'd been with a human woman and that it was never going to work."

The tears were returning to Gabi’s eyes. “All of that…he was saying that…that’s not true, right? He’s…he’s just trying to fuck with us, right?”
 
"wow. WOW" Monica sat "just... wow."
She shook her head "so not only does he not have any ability to respect my boundaries, he's a 13 year old mean girl who thinks that spreading this kind of bullshit is going to break us up." She shook her head "He tried to tell me a week or so ago that it would never last because you're an earth girl, like we're sooo fucking different. I can lift a car over my head. wooo. i bet that comes up a lot in a relationship" she rolled her eyes "I told him in no uncertain terms that I got lucky enough to find love with my best friend. I also rejected him... again.. the other day and told him he had no shot because I wasn't single. So. yeah. this is clearly his pathetic attempt to make me single. God it would be diabolical if it weren't so pathetic and transparent. I love you. you're enough for me. you. just you. why do you think i'm so deflective of zoe's attempts to get in here? because i don't want or need anything more than I already have. I want you. I want you to want me. Thalmer can kiss my ass." she dug out her phone and texted him, letting Gabi see "If my girlfriend has an accident, or is struck by lightning, or gets cancer and dies I will assume it was you. do not ever come to Prospect City again. If I were you, I would steer clear of any other of our people as well. you never know who wants to make it big with the royal family." She sighed "if you see him ever again, stick around people, call me immediately then call the police. I don't think he will hurt you. I don't think he's that stupid. Still."
 
Gabi leaned over the table, hands on her temples, processing what she’d heard. “I’m…I’m really tired. This has been a lot.” She let out a desperate laugh and stood up. “I have a freaking lab paper to write up and Calc reading to do and I just don’t have the time or…” She paced around a bit before making her way toward her bedroom.
 
Monica followed her to the bedroom, stopping at the door "babe. I love you, I only love you, I'm only going to love you. I'll see you in a few hours i'm sure."

She didn't push it, but instead stowed her gloves and helmet in her pack. Making her way back, she drew her hoodie down so she wouldn't be showing her face on camera associated with her clothes. She flashed her ID and let the guy at the security desk see her face, but was careful not to get it on camera. Ducking into a bathroom, she put on her helmet and gloves, drawing the hoodie up around her face. Slipping into the room with the presentation, she took a seat by the side, looking around for potential trouble.
 
Gabi nodded, still looking a little shell-shocked. “Be careful, okay?”

When Monica finally arrived at Russell Katis’s speech on the second floor of the hotel and conference center, the Vigil company’s representative seemed as though he was heading firmly into “summarizing the life lesson” territory with his presentation. The Afghan veteran didn’t look the stereotypical grizzled soldier. He was tall, a bit lanky, with mid-length, curly, mahogany-colored hair with a few coils of silver here and there. He wore glasses that further added to the college professor vibe. His nose was slightly bent, probably the result of having been broken at some point.

She felt her phone vibrate and was able to check it surreptitiously.

Gabi: When you come home, I need your hands all over me.

“When I tell people all of that, my whole story,” Katis said, “they’ll say, ‘wow, you must be so strong, or tough.’ ‘Mentally strong.’ But I don’t really think it’s about strength, or toughness. The guys in my unit would definitely say I wasn’t particularly tough,” he added with a self-deprecating grin, “especially after that Karoake night. I swear, I was absolutely killing it.” There was a bit of laughter from the audience, including the young woman from the Vigil booth. “We use these words a lot for anyone who’s had to overcome adversity. But it’s not really about toughness or strength.”

He put his arm out to illustrate his next point. “Think about a tree branch in a storm. What kind of a branch is going to have the best chance to survive?” He imitated a branch swaying in the wind. “Not the branch that stays rigid. Not the branch that’s the ‘strongest.’ It’s the branch that bends and adapts to its circumstances. Being resilient isn’t about standing firm in the face of whatever challenges life throws at us. Sometimes, that shit will break us, if we're not careful. Came close to breaking me. The important thing—”

A pair of gunshots rang out, sounding as if they were coming from the lower floors. A moment later, panicked chatter rose up among the crowd in the room.

“What was that?”

“—that a gunshot?”

“—my god, someone is shooting!”

“Stay calm, everyone,” the Vigil COO said. “Please.”
 
Monica got up slowly, not wanting to cause a stampede by bolting for the door. Humans were at times herd animals, and that sort of panicked rush would get more people hurt than any gunmen. She moved into the hallway, peeling off her hoodie and stuffing it into her pack as she looked around for the nearest stairwell. She hoped everyone had the good sense to shelter in place, but if not there was no helping it. She listened a moment for the sound of gunfire, to make sure the situation was still active, then headed for the stairs.
 
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