Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[Halcyon638]

Detective Roy nodded as Detective Amato exited the apartment. “Thanks for your time,” she repeated, looking tired. She stepped outside.

The next morning, Monica received an email informing her that she and the other interns would be allowed back to the facility. There was some vague language about “enhanced security measures,” but when she arrived, there were no noticeable differences to the regular procedures.

Dr. Bascombe looked as if he hadn’t slept in days and was even pricklier than usual. As Monica headed back from lunch, she and Gabi received a text:

IAN: Hey friends. We’re going to be playing a show on Friday at Sturdy’s. Also it’s Eve’s birthday (Thursday, actually). Stop by if you’re around.

Sturdy’s was a bar on the outskirts of campus that had just enough skeeviness to let the rich kids pretend they were frequenting a dive in 1970s Time Square.

Gabi responded just to Monica:

GABI: Did you want to go if it’s not too late after we get done babysitting? Up for it if you are!

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica sighed. She felt like her instincts were correct, but maybe her superior was a good enough dude that "she's gay don't bother" might actually clear the whole thing up. That would be a refreshing twist to the whole scenario. She avoided Bascombe to the best of her ability, pushing herself to be seen working extra hard though, as part of the deal. She wanted to actually get something out of this and Bascombe would make a good reference. Maybe. Possibly. Hopefully.

Texting Ian back she said "Gabi and I are babysitting, but if we can make it we totally want to! Tell Eve Happy Bday " She felt a little bad they might be going out when Mel had invited them out and texted Gabi "If we do get done babysitting should we let Mel know we're free and she can join us?"

 

[Halcyon638]

IAN: Will do No biggie if you can’t make it but it’d be cool to see you all!

Gabi texted a little later, including a picture of a flowy purple top hanging on a clothes rack in a store:

GABI: Mom dragged us out to Walpole so she can find some clothes for a wedding. What do you think about this (on me)?

Walpole was the closest town with something approximating a downtown district. The store in the background looked vaguely fam

GABI: We could invite her It might be a little awkward introducing her to Ian and Eve and all lol.

 

[siobhancan99]

"I think you'd look gorgeous in that "

"Let's keep that on the back burner, see what time we get out. We can always just say she's my old professor."

 

[Halcyon638]

GABI: Thanks querida. You just gave me permission to buy it And that sounds good with Melanie.

***

Gabi was just complaining about one of her lazy pizzeria coworkers when there was a knock at the door. “I got it,” she said, switching gears from griping to grinning instantaneously. She peered out the peephole and then opened up. “Hi!”

“Hello,” Sid and Elise said nearly simultaneously.

“You must be Gabi," he added.

“That’s me. And you must be Elise! How excited are you to hang out with Monica tonight?”

“Very excited,” the dark-haired girl responded.

“Awesome,” Gabi said, stepping aside to let Monica’s neighbors enter the apartment. Sid was wearing a moderately dressy button-down shirt and chinos.

“Hey, Monica!” Elise called out, making her way across the living room with her Squishmallow octopus backpack in tow.

“Thank you both for doing this,” Sid said. “Especially since I know you only get the weekends together. I’ll definitely be back no later than 10:30.”

 

[siobhancan99]

"Are we ok to take her to the pool? If it's too late maybe we can go tomorrow." She smiled and looked down at Elise "Do you like Fajitas? We have all the stuff and you can make your own and pick what goes into it." She smiled and knelt down "What's in your backpack?" She looked over to Sid "you look good. Where you taking your date anyway?"

 

[Halcyon638]

“Pool!” Elise let slip, clapping her small hands together.

Smiling, Sid said, “I mean, how do you say no to that? Yeah, the pool’s open ‘til 7:00.”

The small girl didn’t seem familiar with fajitas, but replied, “That sounds good” at the notion of picking her own fillings for them. “I have some crayons and two toys. Plus, I have my Pokémon headphones.”

“Wow, can I see?” Gabi said, kneeling down. Grinning, Elise began opening up her backpack.

“Thanks,” Sid in response to Monica. “Everything in my closet’s like, super old now, so I was hoping I’d stumble upon something that wasn’t completely out of style. Oh, right—I’ll text you the place in case anything were ever to come up.”

The restaurant was called the Paper Crane. “It’s good. It’s new-ish; you two should check it out some time. They have grilled strawberry shortcake skewers, which…sound weird but are insanely good.”

Sid ran across the hall to grab Elise’s swimsuit, wished the girls a good time, and then kissed his daughter on the forehead before heading out into the early evening.

Elise was practically radiating excitement and joy with every bit of attention Monica and Gabi lavished on her. As they entered the crowded but family-friendly public pool, the girl said, “Gabi, did you know Monica’s really really good at swimming? She was telling me.”

“I did. I used to go to all of her swim meets and cheer her on,” the Latina said, giving Monica’s arm a little squeeze. "Even when I was supposed to be at a church retreat for the weekend," she added under her breath for Monica's benefit.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica chuckled at that "bad catholic" she lightly swat Gabi's ass when she was sure Elise wouldn't see it. The headed into the pool, which was reasonably crowded given the heat. Monica had a blue one-piece, used to wearing that for swimming competitively and from lifeguarding. The lap lane was open, and she took a moment to impress their little charge. "Watch this then we can go into the pool together and play." She moved to the edge, then dove in. For the first time in her life, she let herself go all out. She was out of practice, not having swum during the year, but she let herself use her full strength, cutting through the water like a knife.

 

[Halcyon638]

The cool water felt revitalizing after the intense heat of the walk over. Gabi, dressed in a similarly modest one-piece, cheered her on from the side and induced Elise to do the same. Memories of her best friend and Gabi’s family urging her on at past swim meets flashed into Monica’s mind.

Gabi and Elise hopped in a moment later. Nearby, an elderly Latina watched over a pair of boys who were splashing around merrily, and a guy around Monica’s age cradled a young woman in his arms and talked to her about the minute details of his car as she half-floated.

“So. Would you be able to ask Sid if we can keep her?” Gabi said while Elise was in the midst of showing off an underwater somersault.

“So cute,” the silver-haired Latina said to Gabi and Monica. “Is she yours?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica laughed "No we'd have been very young." She looked over to the woman and put her arm over Gabi's shoulder "She's my neighbor's kid. He has a date. Recent divorcee. So we offered to take her to the pool and she's going to come watch a movie or something while we wait for him to get home. She is adorable." She squeezed Gabi in her arm, looking over at her. She figured Gabi wanted to be a mother. She had her own very complicated feelings about whether or not she should have children, if it was fair if she was going to remain the Nighthawk forever. Still, Gabi should have what she wanted "we can't keep her but maybe in a few years we can discuss getting a brand new kid."

 

[Halcyon638]

The elderly woman smiled. “She sleep good tonight,” she said, then shifted to warning the two boys about roughhousing in Spanish.

Gabi grinned. “I need to work on talking you into getting a cat first.” She put on a mock look of surprise when Elise lightly splashed her, then splashed the girl back, taking care to make it small enough to not get any of the others sharing the pool. She gave chase to Elise, grabbing her lightly by her toes as she attempted to paddle away. The child dissolved into giggles.

“Sam?” they heard the girl who’d been listening to her partner wax poetic about his vehicle say.

“Can you guys babysit me all the time?” Elise asked.

“Sam?”

Gabi looked at Monica. “Well, I’m only in town a few—”

“Sam!” The young woman was on the surface of the water looking down. She dove below now. Gabi and a 30-something guy started swimming in her direction.

“What’s going on?” the elderly Latina asked as a lifeguard started making his way toward the water.

 

[siobhancan99]

"we can maybe take you to the pool on weekends Gabi is here." She smiled then trailed off. Hearing the distress of the woman and not seeing the man she assumed he slipped under the water somehow. "I'll be right back" She said, then dove under, looking through the sea of legs and turbulent water to see if she could locate him.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica could see the man drifting toward the bottom of the pool. His body was rigid as his girlfriend swam down toward him, her hair a black cloud behind her as she descended. His dark eyes were open, but didn’t seem to be registering anything.

In a few quick strokes, Monica had propelled herself over. She and the girl were able to get their hands on his arms and shoulders to bring him toward the surface.

As they broke the surface of the water, the man started twitching, first lightly, then with convulsions all over his once-stiff form. “Sam! Sam, come on!” the girl cried.

Gabi was holding Elise closely, tucked against her and heading toward the opposite side of the pool. The lifeguard made his way over just as Sam let out a cough, then glanced around at the women people surrounding him as if he’d just woken up in a circle of strangers.

“Whoa. What the fu…” He cut himself off.

“Oh my god!” the girl said, throwing her arms around him dramatically. “Thank you,” she said, turning to Monica momentarily before embracing him again.

“You alright, man?” the lifeguard asked.

“Yeah. Yeah,” Sam said, looking embarrassed now.

Gabi stood on the edge of the pool, still cradling Elise against her. “You should probably call an ambulance,” she said.

“Nah, I’m…I’m good,” the man said, hoisting himself out of the water.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica was concerned. The man had clearly held his breath, and to do that while in some kind of fugue state... She took a moment to look around, and try to ascertain if someone was paying close attention to him in a way that seemed strange, or generally just feel out somebody who looked out of place. The whole thing was fucking weird, and she had a bad feeling about it.

 

[Halcyon638]

“Dude, I’m driving you to the ER, okay?” the young woman said to her boyfriend. She was still visibly trembling.

Monica surveyed those remaining at the pool. Most people were swimming again, still paying half-attention to the now-seemingly resolved crisis, or were getting out of the pool. No one seemed particularly intent on the guy or stood out in any way.

A little while later, she, Gabi, and Elise headed back to the apartment, the streets still fully lit by the summer sun.

The fajitas were a big hit with Elise and Gabi alike, and afterwards, they threw on a Pixar movie. It was a little past 9:30 when they finished, and the little girl was looking as sleepy as the elderly Latina had predicted. “I think summer is my favorite season,” Elise said, cradling a Hello Kitty plush as she slumped against the arm of the sofa. “I get to stay up really late and there’s no school.”

“You don’t like school?” Gabi said, herself slumped a bit against Monica. The Latina let out a yawn.

“No. I don’t think anyone likes me,” she said quietly, as if ashamed.

A text came in for Gabi and Monica.

ZOE: Looking at a place on Templeton Street. Any red flags in that area?

Their friend was in the process of finding student housing for the fall.

 

[siobhancan99]

"Honestly live in campus housing for a year. It's safe, there's security. There's women only buildings if you're into that. Learn the City." Monica hmmmed "Templeton isn't too bad but I wouldn't park my car on it."

Turning to Elise she sighed. She knew what it was like "you know, when I was in first grade i was aa year older than the other kids, and taller. And weird, because my parents weren't from America" She turned and put her hand on the girl's shoulder "And Gabi had the same problem. We both had parents that spoke other languages at home, and our clothes weren't exactly right, and the food we liked wasn't exactly right and we were shy and weird." She wrapped an arm around Gabi "but we made friends with each other, and we grew up and made more friends eventually. You'll get there Elise. It's hard. IT's sooooo hard to feel like nobody likes you, but there's other shy scared kids at school too. They want a friend too you know?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Despite being visibly tired, Elise listened intently. She nodded. Wordlessly, she put her Hello Kitty plush out and made it give Monica a little hug. She let out a little yawn and stretched. A siren sounded in the distance.

Gabi found a lightweight blanket and draped it over the child, the AC giving the room enough of a chill to make it necessary. Before long, Elise was dozing off.

ZOE: You’ll probably right. Trying to get housing on the cheap probably not the best idea…

“That was very sweet,” Gabi said to Monica, picking at a few remaining popcorn pieces at the bottom of their bowl.

Suddenly, a female scream erupted from somewhere above them, and they heard a crash. Both sounds were muted, as if they were coming from more than a single story above. Elise was still asleep.

 

[siobhancan99]

Texted zoe back because she felt sort of guilty not inviting her to live with them, but they were a couple and living with their occasional threesome partner seemed like a horrible fucking idea and also seemed reasonably calculated to not let zoe figure herself out.

"Look, you should know that you're gonna be joined at the hip with us half the time anyway, you'll be at our place a lot. Sometimes on the couch, sometimes maybe not on the couch I mean you better be."

She looked down at Elise "maybe we should you know. Come watch her some times and check in on her." She felt like she wanted to cry a little, knowing what the kid was going through. She was about to, when the scream cut through the air. Instantly she was in drill sergeant mode. "call 911. Stay with Elise." She was up on her feet instantly, bolting two floors up the steps, then poking her head out to see if anyone was in the hall or there were further signs. She'd repeat the process till she had some sign she was on the right floor.

 

[Halcyon638]

Brown eyes wide for a moment, Gabi then nodded and picked up her phone. “Got it. Be safe.” The biology major was dialing and standing near Elise’s sleeping form when Monica opened up the door to the hall.

It didn’t take long for Monica to confirm that the sounds had come from two floors up on the seventh story. Looking down the hallway, she spotted a 50-something, heavyset man taking tentative steps down its length. He was headed toward apartment 712. “Everyone okay in there?” he asked as he stood in front of its door.

As if in response, the door suddenly slammed open. The force of the blow shoved the overweight figure to the ground, seemingly dazing him or possibly knocking him unconscious.

On the other side of the now-unhinged door stood a person with the feral features, elongated fingernails, and fangs she had once seen Allie McKenney sporting as a result of prolonged use of Swat. It was wearing a tattered red dress with a floral print, and had light brown hair in contrast to McKenney’s dark hair. Its fingernails and fangs were dripping with blood, and its animalistic eyes focused on the fallen man now.

 

[siobhancan99]

In that moment, Monica resolved to not get involved in things in the building and just to call the police. It was the most effective way to maintain her cover. Now here she was, confronted by a monster. If she fought the monster, people would think "wonder how this chick fought the monster" and that... was bad. So she couldn't fight the thing. The question then became, was she willing to sacrifice this guy's life to protect her identity and thus all the people around her? The answer was also yes. That left only seeing if there was a way to thread the needle on this one. She decided to give it a sort of half assed attempt. She screamed, then started bolting up the stairs towards the roof. if it followed, great. if not, really that was so much better. But at least on the roof she might be able to throw it off and claim it jumped. Still, a huge piece of her hoped it didn't follow. The centauri in her didn't even feel bad about that. Gabi and Elise were her priority now.

 

[Halcyon638]

The creature glanced over at Monica as she let out a cry, cold, inhuman eyes locking onto her for a moment. Then, it crouched down, licking its lips with what seemed to be an elongated tongue, latching onto the shoulder of the fallen man.

He let out a shout of pain as Monica made her way up the staircase out of sight. The stairwell was intensely humid from the lack of AC.

 

[siobhancan99]

Well, so much for that idea. Still. Fuck. She just couldn't be the Nighthawk, not without the mask and not in her own god damn building. She raced down the steps, making it to her apartment. She called 911. "there's a horrible monster on the 7th floor of the covington arms. 1412 West Covington. It's a chick, she's like, got claws and sharp teeth and she's eating a guy." She stayed in the hallway as she called, not trying to alarm Elise or Gabi, keeping her voice quiet. "please send like all the cops ever" She tried to make herself sound scared, then hung up the phone. Moving into the apartment she locked it, then immediately moved a chair to block the door. She shut off all teh lights and made a shhh motion to Gabi. "There's something awful in the building. I can't fight it here. I called the cops. I tried to lure it to the roof but I couldn't."

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi wore a stricken look and Elise was stirring slightly. “Baby…I just got this text from Melanie.”

Her girlfriend help up her phone and the dim screen partly illuminated the room.

MELANIE: There is some kind of creature here. At the waterfront. I think we need you here.

“What the fuck is going on?” Gabi managed to say in a voice just above a whisper. They heard sirens, though still distant.

 

[siobhancan99]

That was something she could handle. "SWAT. the drug, not the police unit." She cussed softly "Alright. Text her I'm on the way. DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR AGAIN. Put on a movie for Elise, but use your earphones on the IPAD if she wakes up. Cops are on the way hopefully." She moved the couch to also block the door, then grabbed her bag and headed out the fire escape down to the ground. She texted "I love you, i'll be home soon." to Gabi and ducked into an alley to change. She made her way a few blocks and summoned the sliver, heading down to the waterfront. She left her Monica phone at home, taking the burner with her. Paranoid as ever, she didn't want anyone to connect her to her home.

 

[siobhancan99]

Added "text sid. tell him to stay wherever he is and not come back to the apartment until the cops clear it."