Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

Nighthawk: A Superhero Story

On the surface, Monica Bergenson seems like your average small-town girl headed off to the big city for college, but she has a secret—a few big secrets, actually. Firstly, she and her parents actually belong to an alien race of conquerors that at one time had designed on conquering the Earth, giving her superhuman strength, endurance, and senses. Secondly, after losing the love of her life to a senseless crime in the bustling but treacherous metropolis of Prospect City, she pledges herself to fight crime in the guise of a costumed superhero known as Nighthawk. Nighthawk: A Superhero Story chronicles her adventures as both a masked vigilante and as a college student navigating identity, sex, friendship, and romance.


James Bergenson closes the trunk of his beat-up Toyota. "Looks like that's everything." Monica can't help but note the rust around the vehicle's tailgate. On an engineer's salary, her father could easily afford to pay for a replacement vehicle, but it's also the engineer in him that won't give up on a machine until it's entirely inoperable. He shields his green eyes against the August sun, never having gotten in the habit of wearing sunglasses.

Monica's friend and roommate Gabi steps down the stairs leading up to their university apartment, a small bundle of tinfoil in her hands. Her long, straight, black hair contrasts starkly with the light brown of her skin, a product of her Mexican heritage. "My mom left me a bunch of turtle brownies," she explains to the tall man, who always seem to be wearing jeans and a plaid short regardless of the season. Monica catches her glancing at her shoes while talking, a habit that dates back to her awkward middle and early high school days. "No way we'll be able to eat them all!"

The thought of food makes Monica's stomach grumble. She and her father had only stopped for a quick bite to eat on the 3-hour drive to Prospect City earlier this Saturday (a crisis at work meant Monica was driven down a day after Gabi and the rest of the freshman class had orientation), and a combination of nervousness and excitement had made it hard to choke down the prepackaged salad she'd been bought. Gabi had mentioned a school-sponsored barbecue on the Prospect University quad, and Monica hopes the food quality is decent, especially based on what they charge non-scholarship students for tuition.

"Oh, thanks," James notes as he grabs the foil package. "I'll take them for the road." Coming from the area just adjoining the quad, overpowered speakers pump out a medley of modern hip-hop and classic rock, the latter which Monica recognizes. Three or four a few apartments down, a collection of shirtless men are engaged in a heated game of pick-up basketball. "Well, kiddo," James says. He reaches a hand out and places it on the young woman's shoulder. "You probably don't want Dad hanging around much longer and cramping your style. I'm going to take off." There's a slightly subdued nature to his tone now.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica looked back at her father with those same green eyes. They were the only thing she had from him, looking almost identical to her mother in every other respect. Long blonde wavy hair tumbled back over broad shoulders for a woman. She was tall, tan from spending the summer lifeguarding at the local pool, and naturally fit.

As she heard the reluctance to go in her father's voice, her throat tightened and she fought the urge to get back in the car and head home. As a child she'd been held back a year by her parents to explain her unnatural physical adeptness, and it had rankled being home. They had prevented her for a long time from forming too close bonds with childhood friends "Humans will never understand you" became "You don't want anyone from home to figure out what you are." For the longest time, she'd resented that urge of theirs to keep her close.

Now her mother was gone, back to where they came from on some quixotic quest to restore the glory of lost empire, and her father was the only home she knew. Right now she craved it. She craved it as badly as she craved the freedom that she'd tried to get from him growing up. She knew if she didn't pack him into the car, she'd probably cry and offer to take a gap year.

Instead, she cleared her throat and wiped her hands on her jeans, aware of the gravity of the moment. At 19 she was making her entrance into a semblance of adult life and independence. Plus there was the mission. Her mission, not the doomed errand that had brought her parents to this backwater planet a score of years before. She awkwardly pulled her father into a hug, then clung a moment too long before letting him go. "I love you dad. Call me when you get home. DO NOT eat while you're driving." She tried a little playful banter to break up the seriousness of the moment. "you're a terrible enough driver as it is" Though that was a lie. He was a superb pilot and driver, his alien reflexes making him a natural.

She watched him smile at that, then pack himself into the car and drive off. She looked over at Gabi who asked "you ok?" and with a practiced air of nonchalance she didn't quite feel she nodded "Of course. Lets go meet some boys. your mom isn't around to ask if they are good Catholics and my youth pastor isn't here to make sure there's sufficient space between us." She winked at her friend "also lets eat some of those fucking brownies. You know dad doesn't like to stop and i need to eat"

"I don't know how you eat like a football player and look like that" Gabi sighed, gesturing at her friend.

"I work it off, trust me"

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica and Gabi both took brownies from the foil. "Hold on to mine," Gabi said, running back into their shared campus apartment only to return with a wad of napkins. Typical Gabi, Monica thought. She was the type of person who would always take a pile of napkins leaving a fast food restaurant, which Monica had on more than one occasion mocked as a "suburban mom move."

The two young women headed toward the quad, deciding to scarf down the brownies along the way. Both began to laugh as their lips and mouths ended up coated with chocolate and caramel. "This looks totally hot," Gabi said with a grin. When Monica pointed out a deposit of caramel on her friend's tooth, Gabi let out a laugh and nearly bumped into a pair of heavily made up girls, who gave her a confused look as she dabbed her tooth with the paper napkin.

As they grew closer and closer to the quad, the direction in which many other students were streaming, the music and clamor grew louder and louder. A sea of people awaited them when they arrived. Although Monica had been to the city on a few occasions, mostly with her late boyfriend, Tom, she still found it a bit overwhelming. At the same time, it was enticing.

As far as her eye could see, there were attractive guys of all varieties. More than a few of them glanced in Monica and Gabi's direction. A squad of mostly chiseled and shirtless men tossed around a football. Some handsome frat types and a few women passed a frisbee around. There were the other expected cliques--a long-haired dude strumming tunelessly on an acoustic guitar, a few skateboarders doing their thing near the steps of the old library, some intellectual types curled up alone with thick novels by Dostoyevsky or Nabokov in an attempt to give off an air of sophistication. Elsewhere, a cluster of women lay on towels in bikinis or bikini tops soaking up the late afternoon rays, and a group of university officials and/or faculty circled up with paper plates and grilled food talking shop.

"Wow," Gabi said, trying to look but not be seen looking at the guys on display. "You're getting some serious eyes on you, Mon." As she and Monica got in line for some food, Gabi suddenly tapped Monica on the back. "Oh! Those are the guys I met yesterday at orientation. Super nice. We should go see them!" She pointed to a mixed-gender group of five people sitting, most of them squished together looking at one of the group's laptops. She'd texted Monica about them yesterday; they shared her interest in science and sci-fi (she's leaning toward majoring in biology), and were mostly unremarkable looking, aside from one tall, high-cheekboned guy with short dark hair.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica smiled at her friend "I'm sure your friends are great, and I can ogle from the safety of a group" Truth be told, her heart wasn't in the ogling. Since Tom died she'd felt nothing really but anger, though she had hopes that over the semester she could let that go and find some peace... or work out her aggression. She looked over all the fine male flesh on display and noted some of the girls were pretty. As a swimmer she'd been around plenty of wet naked bodies, so she was used to it a bit, though not entirely immune.

She moved over towards Gabi's friends, the shyer girl in tow "you know gabi you don't have to pretend like they don't look at you too." Monica smiled. Her friend had been... exotic... in the hick town near the dam. That hadn't always let her have the greatest confidence but Monica knew she was pretty and hoped she'd really come into her own here at school. She wasn't surprised the girl already found some friends, despite being shy. There was something about her, a sweetness and cuteness that made her fun to be around. Monica approached the group, then wrapped an arm over her shy friend's shoulders "why don't you introduce me" she said, low in Gabi's ear "So we aren't just standing here."

 

[Halcyon638]

"Hey, guys," Gabi said, responding to Monica's cue. "This is my friend from back home I was telling you about--my roommate." Realizing she hadn't actually said the woman's name, she added, "Monica."

She eventually managed to introduce Monica to the five assembled friends: Hadley, a purple-haired girl with thick-rimmed glasses whose computer was the center of attention a minute ago; Nick, a spindly, acne-riddled guy half-paying attention and half-playing a Nintendo Switch; Layla, a short, stocky young woman with a halo of curly brown hair absentmindedly doodling on a sketchpad, Porter, a heavyset guy in a T-shirt with an Area 54-style alien and UFO on it, and Tomas, the tall, dark-haired guy who had a runner's build and was now letting a caterpillar climb onto his hand.

The group greeted Monica, with Porter seeming particularly rattled by her beauty to the point that his mouth literally hung open for a few seconds as he realized it was his turn to say hello. "So, what's your major?" Layla asked.

"Engineering."

"Oh, cool," Hadley said. "Me, too. At least for now. Or I might switch to theater just to piss off my dad."

Monica smiled. The group started to converse, and soon started falling into what she assumed were their usual conversational rhythms, eventually getting into topics and inside jokes she was not familiar with. Gabi somehow seemed to fit in pretty easily, despite having only known them a day longer. After a little while, Monica couldn't help but feel a bit on the outside.

Perhaps seeing the slightly lost look on her face, Tomas said, in a slight Eastern European accent Monica couldn't place, "We were just talking about Nick's internship this summer. He worked for HelixCorp."

"Wow," Monica responded. HelixCorp was one of the world's top companies, specializing in advanced energy research, genetic engineering, and pharmaceuticals, among other areas. It was one of a handful of companies, including First Line and the consumer electronics company Weel that had led to the 2000s tech boom in Prospect City.

"Cool. Did you, like, genetically engineer any monsters or anything?" Gabi said.

"Nah. Their network architecture was garbage so I just worked on that, mostly," Nick said, not looking up from his game. "I did almost get killed at a subway stop, though, so that was cool."

"You did not," Porter said. Turning to Gabi and Monica, he added, "Someone pushed him down and stole his MacBook."

"And pointed a gun at me, but whatevs," Nick noted.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica let Gabi and her friends control the conversation. For one, she was glad Gabi had found a group she immediately gelled with. For two, with her determination to be some sort of avenging angel of crime, she wasn't sure she had the bandwidth to make new friends. Gabi's seemed nice enough, they would do until they wouldn't.

She teased the kid in the alien shirt "so... into aliens huh? If they're out there why do you think they only come to inspect hillbilly butthholes? Is there like... gold in the ass of toothless country folk?" She grinned and nudged him playfully. "Or..." she looked around conspiriatorily "do you think they're already among us. Going to college. drinking IPA's and listening to the band 'Dry Cleaning'?"

She smiled at the girl with the purple hair "The play's the thing huh?" exhausting the limits her Shakespearean references about acting. "I might add Materials Science as a second major" she shrugged, looking over at Tomas. He seemed a little out of place for the group. Not bad looking, not that she was looking for that. Plus his name was uncomfortably close to Tom. There was a pang, which made her go quiet for a few minutes, perking when she heard about the mugging.

"what subway stop was it?" She leaned forward, then not trying to seem too eager she sat back "and what time? I mean gosh. if even the subway isn't safe... I really want to avoid bad stops and bad times" She worried her lip, feigning apprehension but quietly wanting that information. It seemed as likely as any a place to start looking for trouble. "I mean, have you guys heard anything? what are the no-go zones around campus? I think that's probably something the University should be telling us about. Did they go over it at orientation at all?"

 

[Halcyon638]

"Well, I got jumped in Gilliam Heights," Nick said. "2 Stars. Would not recommend. Also, Benjamin Park--that whole area is super sketchy. Oh, and I wouldn't even go near Founder's Square in the daylight." Out of the corner of her eye, Monica noticed a pair of guys who had been tossing a football around stealing glances at both her and Gabi.

"It's the tech bros' fault," Hadley maintained. "My dad says they totally ruined this city."

"Hey, I'm going to be one of those tech bros some day, okay?" Nick says.

"Okay, 'bro,'" Layla said, giving him a playful shove. As the conversation wound down, the friends started making vague plans to go back to Porter and Nick's apartment to watch a movie and/or play board games. Just at that moment, the two guys who had been not so subtly looking in Monica's direction walked over.

"Hey, Nick," one of the men said. He was disarmingly handsome, with short, slightly curly reddish brown hair, a rugged jawline, and impressive arms and shoulders, dressed casually in a Beatles T-shirt and shorts. His friend was an equally attractive young Black man with a neatly maintained fade and beard, a gleam to his mahogany eyes, and a muscular though lean physique, dressed similarly to his friend. "How'd that internship at InnoVenture go?" the first guy asked.

"HelixCorp," Nick said.

"Oh, right," the man said. "How'd that go?" After a bit of small talk, mostly between the new guy and Nick, Nick turned to Gabi and Monica.

"This is Nolan and Shaun," he said almost grudgingly, indicating the reddish-brown haired guy and the dark-haired guy, respectively.

"Hey," Nolan said, turning to Monica and Gabi again. "I don't know what you're up to after, but there's going to be a pretty decent party off campus. Any of you up for it?" he added, glancing briefly at the rest of the group but then returning his attentions to Monica and her friend.

"Definitely!" Gabi says, then looking at her seated friends, added, "Oh, umm...maybe we could all go?" Hadley and Nick subtly exchanged eye rolls, Kayla's eyes widened as if stressed out at the very idea, and Tomas squinted slightly as if processing the notion. Gabi then looked to Monica.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica hmmmed. She knew how this game was played, as it had been played on a smaller stage back in Cottersville. She was going to get picked up on, and maybe Gabi too and their more awkward but earnest and friendly group would not be invited along. The one guy seemed to know Nick though, and so that seemed to have an opportunity there to make this a little more fair. "well Gabi and I had just invited everyone to watch movies and get pizza back at our place" she lies, hopefully smoothly "but I mean if we're all" she places a tiny but noticeable emphasis on 'all' and pauses slight "Invited. I mean I think we might be able to make our way over that way. You both gonna be there?" She leans forward a little, feeling like she doesn't even know how to flirt right now. The thought of Tom is still raw, and reopened due to the unfortunately named and somewhat interesting Tomas. Still, its expected. She's a girl that gets invited to parties by boys.

"Beats what Gabi and I used to do in Cottersville, which was watching my boyfriend and his buddies get drunk on Amstel light and vape in a field while listening to Morgan Wallen or Luke Combs and pretending they were hot shit"

She smiles at the two "for you City boys that's good country music" She knew Gabi hated that shit, and so she ribbed her playfully "Gabi's favorite. You wanna get with my girl her you have to really... I mean really get into some country."

She looked over the two boys, sparing another admiring glance before reminding herself she wasn't here in Prospect City for boys. She was here for vengeance. and school. Mostly school but also vengeance. Boys were a distraction but she also had a part to play.

"So how do you two know Nick? are you all like Sophomores or something?"

 

[Halcyon638]

When Monica asked about the invitation, Nolan couldn't contain a smile. "Yeah, totally."

"The more the merrier," Shaun added.

"Maybe you can teach us city boys what good country music is," Nolan said, his eyes descending a little as Monica leaned forward.

When Monica asked about how they knew Nick, Nick said, "We were roommates last year. Marion Hall."

"And I was the wacky neighbor across the hall," Shaun noted. "We're all sophomores...well, technically my boy here is about 3 credits shy of being considered a sophomore."

"Not cool, man," Nolan said. "I was this close to passing Chem." He looks back at the group again. "So, the house is at the corner of Lynnwood and Phelps. It's just a couple blocks from here. Probably kick things off around 9 or 10. You all should come."

He and Shaun said their goodbyes for now. The group had a bit of a discussion about their plans, and Gabi, Nick, Tomas, and Hadley decided to go, with Hadley only expressing an interest after Tomas said he was going. "Someone has to keep you all out of trouble," she explained.

Gabi and Monica returned to their apartment to get ready for that evening. "God, those guys are so hot," Gabi said, inspecting the outfit she had just changed into in a full-length mirror, clothes she wouldn't have been bold enough to wear just a few years earlier. Monica voiced her agreement, but picking up on her hesitation, Gabi said, "Hey. I'm sorry. I didn't even...I know it hasn't been that long since...You know, we don't have to do anything tonight, right? We can just hang out here and clown on Real Housewives or just hang out at Porter and Nick's. No pressure, okay?"

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sat on Gabi's bed and drew a leg up under her chin. She wrapped her arms around it and sighed, looking over at her friend "It has not been that long. I'm not ready to date someone else. At the same time, Gabi, you can't spend your freshman year tending to me like I'm some sort of widow and I'm not about to buy all black clothes and hats with veils and shit." She laid back on Gabi's bed "You can't saddle yourself to me if I spiral into some sort of woe is me depression. I have to work through what happened to Tom... you don't. I also have to be there for you as you move on to bigger and better things than we had at home." She looked over at her room mate. "You're so beautiful and sweet and smart and kind. You should have a totally hot guy. You know, one that you have to play music too loud to cover all the sinful things that would make your mother drag you back home over"

She offered a smile she only partially felt and looked up at the ceiling "so what's your preference there? I mean if I'm gonna fly wing-woman I need to know which of those two to run interference on. Hadley clearly is into Tomas so... she's got that one covered." She winked at her roommate "and Porter wouldn't like you because you don't believe in aliens. So that really just leaves Shaun and Nolan. Or I guess Nick. But I'm reasonably sure you were NOT saying that Nick is...so hot" She rolled onto her side, looking over at Gabi doing her makeup "So which one of those boys is it you're dressing up for? hmmm?"

Rolling off the bed she stood next to her friend and looked at her in the mirror "you should wear more red, with your coloring. You look great in it" Then waited for Gabi's response to her teasing. She was herself in tight jeans and a form-fitting black tank, cut to expose her midriff a bit. She looked good, but not dressed up at all.

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi smiled at Monica. "You know I always have your back, carino. Just like you did when my parents split up. I'm pretty sure I was a straight-up bummer for about a year of high school." Adjusting her top slightly, she added, "Since you're asking...I think they're both cute, but I kinda dig Shaun's beard, and Nolan seemed pretty in to you. Plus, as a bio major I don't know if I can go out with a guy who failed chemistry." Noticing Monica's choice of wardrobe, she noted, "Super cute top by the way."

Gabi picked up her phone to show a text message to her friend. Nick had texted them where and when they'd meet up to walk the few blocks to the party. "I'll add you to the group text so everybody has your number," Gabi said, shooting them a reply that Monica soon received as well. "Don't worry about the wing-woman thing. I just want you to have a good time."

As the daylight faded and it was time to meet up with Gabi's friends, Monica put away a pair of shoes she'd been considering but found they no longer fit comfortably. She shoved them to the back of the closet now, and as she did, her hands brushed the top of the box in which she kept a black balaclava and other dark, concealing clothing.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica paused a moment, then threw the balaclava into a large purse. She switched out heels for Doc Martens, then grabbed a few little wooden disks her dad made her.

When they pair met up with the others, she handed one of the disks each to Gabi and Kayla "when you're talking at the party, you keep these disks over your drink so nobody can put anything in it while you're distracted." Her father had driven that lesson home about 20 times since he saw some article on the internet about it, and well... she didn't need to add her friends date rapists to her vengeance list.

When they got to the party, as she expected they were ushered in due to her and Gabi's presence. Still, once they were all in and everyone had a beer, she relaxed. She found Nolan and Shaun and couldn't help but think Gabi had dibs on the hotter boy. Also, failing chem wasn't exactly something that made her think all that well of Nolan. Still, she wasn't there to find a boy. She was there to have a beer and make sure her roommate got home alright.

She made small talk, being nice to Nolan while deflecting his more obvious advances. She nursed a single beer for a while, then set it down somewhere and got another so people would assume she was drinking more than she was. She watched Gabi dance and flirt, and sat sort of protectively around Nick, Porter and Haley, and Tomas. As the night wore on a bit, she let herself relax and forget about what was in her purse and where she wanted to be. Instead, she gave in and started to dance a little, and while she wasn't flirting up a storm she wasn't as discouraging with Nolan as she'd been at the beginning of the night.

"so" she looked over at Nolan "you boys are pretty. Why should I think your friend isn't just gonna break poor Gabi's heart?" She grins, making a joke out of it though somewhat serious in reality.

 

[Halcyon638]

"How do I know your girl's not gonna break his heart?" Nolan said, a broad smile on his lips. The current song faded out, and another bass-heavy track started up, while he positioned himself behind Monica. "Here," he said, holding his muscular arms out in front of her holding his phone in both hands. She felt his arms brush hers. "I don't know any good country songs. Why don't you queue something up?" he told her, gently putting it into her grasp and swiping it to open up Spotify. "Maybe slow things down a bit."

As Monica queued up a track, Nolan began to dance with her more closely. "You know, I don't let just any girl mess up my algorithm." She could smell the clean, cool scent of his aftershave. The rest of the room seemed to almost dim a bit, as if a spotlight were shining down on her and this fit, attractive college boy. She began to marvel at how his black T-shirt outlined his physique.

Suddenly, a series of loud pops rang out. There was a momentary pause in activity in the room. Gabi, who had been starting to kiss Shaun, glanced about in concern. Seeing a similar expression on Monica's face, Nolan said, "Don't worry. There's a bad neighborhood, but it's, like, a block away."

"Should we call the cops?" Gabi said.

"I guarantee you someone else already did," Nolan said. He turned up the music again and gazed at Monica again. "So, where were we...?"

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica frowns "where we were was you were getting me another drink and I was stepping out onto the porch to call the police, because everyone in the neighborhood likely assumes that they were called."

She slipped out with Nolan's phone, hurriedly dialing 911. "Yeah shots fired near the corner of " she panicked then remembered "Lynnwood and Phelps." She turned the phone off to keep the 911 operator from calling back, then pulled the balaclava out of her bag and over her head. She didn't cover her face, as she didn't want a passing cop to assume she was some sort of robber or something and then spend the next thirty minutes explaining why she had a balaclava.

stepping down onto the street, she listened for either the sound of people, or perhaps more gunfire, trying to get a bead on where anything might have happened without the noise of the party inside.

 

[Halcyon638]

"Where you going?" Nolan said, a confused look on his face as Monica sped away.

When she made it outside, she heard another pair of shots. Listening closely, Monica was able to pinpoint the direction it came from. With her alien physiology making her faster than a human being with her build, she estimated it wouldn't take her long to close the distance between the house party and the gunfire, which seemed to be stopping now.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica pulled the balaclava down over her face then sped down the block to where the gunshots seemed to be coming from. She stopped up short, pressing in against the side of a nearby building she peered around the corner. If the assailants were not in view she could always pull the mask up and go help whoever might be laying in the street, and if they were there she could formulate a plan.

She cursed herself for a moment for rushing out here without a plan, but she was new to this. So for now she just tried to remain unseen as she surveyed the scene, taking note of where cars were parked on the block, and what cover she might have if she had to approach an armed man or group of men. Hopefully the former.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica saw a person lying on the sidewalk in front of what appeared to be a diner called 3 Cedars. It appeared to be a man in his 40s or 50s, wearing a white apron and nondescript clothes, clutching the bloody portion of his lower leg.

Approaching him, she could see him grimacing in pain. "Those fuckers!" On first glance, he seemed to be wounded around his lower calf or ankle--a bloody mess, but seemingly nothing life threatening. "They say my son not pay protection money. Protection money!" he said, half a scoff and half a laugh.

Monica asked whether he'd called an ambulance.

"Yes. Those fuckers..."

"Where did they go?"

"There," he said, pulling a blood-soaked hand away from his ankle and indicating a row of boarded-up houses. "They went that way. Fuck..." he exclaimed, gritting his teeth.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded and pulled her balaclava down over her face as she trotted over to the abandoned houses. She made her way around behind one, assuming they'd go in through the alleyway that ran between two rows of ruinous townhouses. She set her bag down behind one of the houses for safekeeping and crept along, listening to see if the pair was holed up in one of the houses, or was like her hiding out in the space between.

She paused, trying to hear the sounds of men over the distant sound of a siren. She just hoped Nolan hadn't followed her out and was still back at the party, where she didn't have to worry about him stumbling on what she wanted absolutely nobody to know about.

her heart pounded in her chest. 'this is dumb, Mon. you're not bulletproof' came that little voice in her head. Over that though was her mother's disapproving tone, screaming at her father just before she left. Calling him a coward, telling him anything worth having was worth fighting for. Also, there was that gnawing absence of Tom and while she doubted in a city of this size she was running across his killers... something had to fill that void and punching these guys out would either do that or ... she could move past this idea and try therapy.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica listened carefully, but couldn't hear a sound except for the growing blare of sirens. A pair of cop cars raced off down the street, speeding away from where she'd found the man. She wondered if they'd gotten a tip that she didn't know about. Maybe she wasn't needed.

Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw movement in one of the abandoned houses, something only made possible through the unique visual acuity of her alien race that enabled her to see clearly with just the slightest bit of light. Two men were crouched down near one of the windows that was missing a few boards from a nearby window, allowing one of them to glance out. Both held pistols in their hands.

As she approached that side of the house, she heard them now. "Are you sure?" one of the men said in what sounded like a Russian accent.

"Yes. They drive by. We should go. Now."

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica crouched, waiting for them to leave the house. She assumed they wouldn't hit the streets guns drawn, which was a great way to attract attention from a second cop or someone calling 911. At least she hoped they'd stow their pistols long enough for her to get the jump.

"A single human is beneath you. You should always assume two or more will come at you." The voice of her mother, when she was ten, trying to instill some of the rudiments of close-quarters combat on a girl that was more interested in softball and Maroon 5 than the possibility she might have to kill 3 men with a pen. She wished she'd paid a little more attention back then, but... hindisight. Instead, she waited for the men to emerge, then guns or no she sprang, trying to barrel one into the other and keep them off their footing for a moment so she could focus her fury on one uninterrupted.

 

[Halcyon638]

As the men emerged from the house and she waited to pounce, the edge of one of her Doc Martens clinked against a can or other type of light metal on the ground, and for a moment, she held her breath. Shit. She was used to moving with almost impossible grace, but was still getting used to the way that the threat of danger would make her overlook critical details that could mean the difference between life and death.

"What the hell?" one of the men said as he and his companion reacted to the sound of the metal and then the sight of the black-clad woman before them. Both reached for their waistbands but before they could draw their weapons, she shoved them into one another, spilling one man to the ground.

The still-standing criminal pulled his gun free finally. "You make mistake," he said, aiming the weapon at Monica. His companion started to lift himself from the ground and was reaching for his gun just as the other man fired on the mysterious vigilante.

Moving almost impossibly quickly, she dodged the bullet, now seeing an opening.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica drew back a booted foot and set it down. She realized she had a moment to debilitate the man before he actually shot her. God this was a terrible idea but... in for a penny in for a pound. She grabbed for his wrist with one hand as he extended the gun, driving her open palm for the outside of his elbow, trying to hyper-extend the joint by keeping a grip on his wrist and holding the arm straight at the same time as the impact. she had to neutralize the gun, and maybe get him between her and his companion if she was going to make it out of the situation unperforated.

 

[Halcyon638]

As Monica grabbed the shooter's wrist and impacted his elbow, he swore in a foreign language, then released his grip on the firearm, sending it clattering to the ground of the alley. To attempt to retaliate, the wiry man swung his other fist wildly but she easily ducked beneath it. The other attacker, trying in vain to get a shot off without injuring his companion, gave up and instead approached her from her right flank. He brought the butt of the gun down aiming at her head, only to see her sidestep it with blinding speed.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica was at once enjoying this quite a bit and also quite worried. Things could go to shit any second. She kept her grip on the man's wrist, then attempted to use her superior alien strength to grip and lift him, intending to bludgeon his partner with his body if need be. Setting her feet, she tried swinging him hard into the other, knowing she ALSO needed to be away from the scene if the cops showed up. Woman in ski masks fighting bad guys...also breaking the law.

 

[Halcyon638]

The shooter with whom Monica was grappling attempted to wrest himself free but failed as she tossed him into the body of his partner. The man he collided with was knocked off his feet, striking at least part of his head and neck on the hard ground and dropping his pistol. As he writhed and rolled on the ground, clutching the back of his neck, it was evident he wouldn't be getting up anytime soon.

The man who'd been thrown staggered to his feet. "Who the fuck are you?" He let out a vicious jab that caught her on the edge of the left side of her jawline, not enough to seriously hurt her but enough to sting a bit. He appeared to be working himself into a rage and wasn't a small man; his fists could clearly do some damage, at least to the average person.

Monica knew that with that rage, though, would come sloppiness. Sloppiness she could take advantage of. Her mother had once warned her of the dangers of letting anger overtake her in combat, a lesson this man had clearly not learned.