The Hero (closed)

raiguy

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Jace Reed looked down over Ilecen City. He could see the Lower Ward from his apartment. He had just gotten his degree in criminal investigation, and was looking to put it to use. He knew the local police force would probably hire him, and then train him, but with the crime rate still spiraling out of control while the police force grew, he knew that would lead to only one end. He didn't fancy ending up six feet under, to be replaced by a cop that was even more wet behind the ears than he was.

Instead, he had looked into a few cases that had been opened up, but then closed due to the hero, or more accurately masked vigilante, that ended up bringing justice to those criminals. It was effective, but what surprised Jace was that the police force seemed to be okay with it. Then again, while the so called hero had been prowling the streets, the crime rate was down, and the Lower Ward actually seemed like it was going to straighten up.

Then, mysteriously, the hero disappeared. No one knew what happened, other than the fact that he hadn't died. The only clue left was that his sidekick seemed to be active for a little while longer, before also disappearing. That was where Jace would start looking. As much as it seemed to go against the nature of his degree, he knew that the only way to make a difference in the Lower Wards where he grew up would be to become the masked vigilante.

Jace turned from the window before opening up his computer and pulling up the files about Nighthawk, and his sidekick The Raven. He had it narrowed down to a few names now, but knew that the only way to figure it out would be to see each woman and verify that they were The Raven, before getting them to train him.
 
She was known as the girl on the bike in the Lower Ward. Celeste Montgomery had been born into the upper crust of Ilecen City, her mother a socialite and her father an aspiring politician. Both had been killed in a car accident before she had gotten to know them. At the age of six, she had moved in with her uncle, Richard Montgomery, a sad and broken little girl.

Richard had a secret though. He had been moonlighting for years as a vigilante named Nighthawk. By day he was a chief prosecutor for the city. At night, he tucked her into bed and donned his armor, taking to the streets to clean up the crime that was out of control. She had been twelve when she finally convinced him to let her come along. They had an amazing partnership until the accident.

It had been five years since she had taken to the streets as the Raven. She was nothing but a memory any longer to the people of Ilecen City. She strove to help the poor with the trust fund that she had inherited when she was 21. Now, at 24, she rode through the streets of the Lower Ward on a ten speed bike, giving out money and food when people needed it.
 
Jace made his way slowly through the Ward, unsure of how to approach his first target. He wanted to figure out exactly who the Raven was, and see if she would train him, but he couldn't just walk up and ask someone. Instead, he almost had to be circumspect about it, and judge the person's reactions. He sighed and wished things were a little easier, but knew that was just wishful thinking.

As he passed a woman on a bike, he stopped, thinking about the person who the Raven would most likely be. He tried to take in the look of the woman, before mentally filing it away. She definitely had the build. He knew he would have a good enough mental picture to find her later with his computers, but he needed to get to his first target and see if she was what he was looking for.

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Jace sighed. The targets were duds. None of them matched up with key aspects of The Raven, and it just seemed like he was sure he wouldn't find her. He sighed as he tossed his bags on the couch of his apartment, before remembering the woman from earlier. The age seemed to be similar, as was the build.

He quickly remembered what she looked like, before entering into facial reconstruction software. Once he had her face, he searched for it, before finding a hit.

Celeste Montgomery. He shook his head. This couldn't be right. There was no way a girl this wealthy would be The Raven. Then again, she had lived with one of the suspects for her protege, The Nighthawk, in fighting crime. He copied the address, before heading down to grab his bike. It would be a short ride to her place, and he needed to be sure.

Once he arrived, Jace quickly knocked, before waiting to see if she would answer the door or not.
 
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"I got you that new medication that the doctor prescribed and I picked up some take away from the China Garden." Celeste said as she handed the bag of pills to her uncle. "Want me to make you a plate for lunch?"

"You worry too much about me, Cel." Richard said, looking at his niece with a fond smile. "Just because I'm in a wheelchair doesn't mean I can't take care of myself."

"I know, but you need someone to worry about you." Celeste answered back simply as she pulled down two plates from the cupboard as a knock sounded at the front door. "I'll get it."

She left both plates on the counter as she hurried through the living room to the front door. She expected to see her uncle's dry cleaning waiting, but when she opened the door, there was a man standing there that she had never seen before.

"Can I help you?"
 
Jace smiled, suddenly realizing that this was the woman he was looking for. "Hi. From your description, it seems like I'm at the right place. I was looking for Raven. She used to train with The Nighthawk, but then he disappeared. After searching, I found the right person. You are Raven, aren't you?" he said, before continuing.

"I want to help this city. After growing up in the Lower Ward, I want to actually make a difference, not just do police work that gets lost in the system and never makes a difference. I want you to train me," he said, looking at her.
 
Celeste stared at the strange man that was on her front step. He seemed to know an awful lot about her and she cocked her head to one side as he continued to ramble. She let him finish before she took a step back into the house and slammed the door in his face. It might have been rude, but she had little patience for people who came to track down what was long laid to rest.
 
Jace looked at the door before shrugging. She was entitled to do that, but he wasn't going to give up that easily. He could actually make it extremely difficult for her if need be, even going so far as to make it impossible for her to go anywhere without him knowing where. There was a reason why he had the computers set up in his apartment, and he was damn good with them. He hoped it wouldn't come to that, but he knew that he wanted to help, and she was the only one who would be able to help him do that.
 
"Who was at the door?" Richard asked as Celeste stepped back into the kitchen to help him finish dishing out their lunch.

"No one." She said with a shrug of her shoulders. "I was hoping it was your dry cleaning. I guess I'll have to go out and get it after lunch so you can go to court tomorrow."

She had fallen into the role of caring for her uncle as if it were the most natural thing in the world. It had been a long time since they had hung up their alter egos, but he still worked for the city prosecuting criminals. In fact, his injuries had been blamed on a botched assassination attempt. No one had the courage to question otherwise.
 
Jace headed back to his apartment, before making sure that he had the right target. He was pretty sure he did, but he had to make sure, otherwise he was going to really look like an ass when he showed up with pictures claiming that that woman was in fact a certain vigilante that he wanted to help train him. He sighed, running his hands through his hair. Why was it always so hard to truly make a difference in this town?
 
The next morning, Celeste accompanied her uncle to work, helping him into the building where his assistants would take over from there. He was well cared for by his office staff and his bodyguard who Celeste affectionately called Big Mo. From there, Celeste drove back tot he Lower Ward, simply spending time making her way through the streets. The people there were in the worst shape, people without hope. It tugged at her heart strings to watch them make their way to soup kitchens and run down tenements.
 
Jace worked through the day, annoyed with the menial tasks he was given. He wanted to help, but the system wasn't letting him. He sighed as he clocked out, before taking the walk through the Lower Ward, knowing that he wanted to do something, anything to help these people around him. He just wished he had the ability, or for the woman he asked to actually train him. He shook his head, determined to ask her again.
 
Once at the soup kitchen, Celeste left the car in an inconspicuous place and made her way inside. She liked to volunteer her time and help make someone else's day worthwhile. They were good people who just needed a helping hand in life. She felt sorry for them, but she also tried to treat them with as much dignity as she could manage.
 
Jace smiled as he stopped into the soup kitchen he used to visit as a kid, before noticing how much busier it was. He walked over to the woman who was still running it, before smiling. "Hey Clarice," he said with a grin and a hug at the old lady who had nearly raised him through most of his childhood.

"Well look at you! Haven't you grown up into a big strapping boy," Clarice said, before handing him what he'd need to help out.

Jace just smiled before quickly getting into the gloves, apron, and hairnet, before moving into the food line to help out. He was looking at the faces when he spotted the woman he had asked to train him. He immediately dropped his head, before going back to helping the people in line, smiling as he said hi to those he remembered, and who remembered him.
 
Celeste was a regular fixture at the soup kitchen. She usually helped serve the drinks to those that were waiting. They all knew that if they needed a few extra dollars that week, she would willingly give them what she had. She was one of the largest benefactors of the place, something that only Clarice and her knew about. It made her feel good to still be doing something that was helpful to the community.
 
Jace finally decided to have a talk with the woman after the huge dinner rush was done. He walked up to her, making sure that he wasn't trapping her, but still held her attention. He quietly said, "I know I didn't do this right the first time, but I know who you are. I really do want to train with you. I grew up in the Lower Ward, and I want to honestly help these people, whether it's just cleaning up the streets of criminals, or stopping drugs from even getting into the city. The police force doesn't let me do enough, and I truly want to help. I'm going to keep asking until you train me."
 
"You're damn straight you didn't do this right the first time." Celeste said, not looking at the man that had approached her. "And this certainly isn't a place to talk either. There are too many eyes and ears that are waiting to snatch up any information they can muster to sell."

She glanced towards the man and let out a long sigh. "You could just go out there on your own, you know. You don't need a damn thing from me."
 
Jace nodded. "That might be true that I could go out on my own, but if I went out solo, most likely nothing would be accomplished. I also don't know anything other than what the academy teaches for self-defense. It would be pretty obvious if the masked hero of the night fought like a cop, wouldn't it?" he asked quietly, keeping his voice down.

"Look, I know that you think we don't need to train, but working with you would really help me in staying alive, for one thing, and helping these people. Just think about it at the very least," he said, before going back to helping the serving line out. He sighed softly to himself, before smiling and chatting with a few more people he recognized as he helped to clean up.
 
Celeste was quiet for a long moment as she listened to him talk. There were guys out there just like him. They were a dime a dozen. They ended up either dead or arrested for assault. She didn't know quite what to think about his plea as she let out a long sigh.

"If you're really serious, I'll give you one chance. Meet me at Pier 11 tomorrow night around 10pm." She said, still looking straight ahead and never giving him another glance.
 
Jace nodded, mentally making a note of the time and place. He would be there, and he would prove that he was serious about this. He went back to cleaning up, before making his way out and back towards his apartment.

He knew he would have to get ready, as well as set up an alibi if Celeste decided to set him up to get rid of him and his asking her to train him. He quickly did that, before relaxing and really thinking about what he was asking her to do.
 
Celeste made sure that Jace was gone for a while before she herself left. She couldn't believe that she was giving him a chance, but she knew that few that sought out to do what he was wanting to do would actually make it. Maybe it was worth the risk, she thought, but it probably wouldn't be.
 
Jace spent most of the next day working through a case that wasn't too demanding. It was in the richer part of town, which meant that it was mostly a domestic disturbance, usually a noise violation between neighbors. He hated how that seemed to be the only thing that came out of the rich districts, when he knew about the drug issues going on there.

Once the day came to an end, he quickly headed back home, before setting up his alibi, and then waiting for the time, before heading down to Pier 11 and waiting for Celeste to show.
 
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