Nighthawk: A Superhero Story (closed for Siobhancan99)

[siobhancan99]

Monica wasn't there to put on a show, but she did put on a show. She whirled the chain in wide circles over her head, then dipped it as she unspooled it, trying to wrap it around the creature's legs to get it caught up. She was still trying not to hurt it, as there was every indication it would probably turn back at some point into a regular person.

 

[Halcyon638]

The creature attempted to charge Monica before she could strike, but she anticipated it, aiming for where she it expected to be in a second’s time.

She succeeded, wrapping its legs together tightly. It still stood, but could barely move. Thrashing wildly, it tried to writhe itself loose. The chain held. For now, at least.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica decided to press the advantage. if she could get it wrapped up in the chain she could probably knock it out pretty easily, and then call the cops and maybe finally get one to say there was a report in her building, or at the very least point her at the next one on campus. The scratch on her stomach was bothering her and she wanted to get that cleaned up, but for now she just doubled down, trying to secure the monster with her next attack.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica deftly stepped around it in a circle, trying to entangle its arms and talons next. The creature seemed tightly restrained now. She heard some of the bystanders pounding on the glass of the subway car. Looking over, she spotted Eve and Ian’s friend, Caleb, shouting at her.

“Up there!” she heard Eve shout. Clinging to the ceiling about 40 feet above Monica was another one of the creatures. It crawled toward a support pillar not far from her.

 

[siobhancan99]

MOnica needed the chain and that meant taking out the one that was tied up. She moved in, looking to knock it out with a swift blow "get back citizens" she called out, glad for the voice modulator she got from sutter so Caleb wouldn't recognize her voice at all.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica hit the restrained creature as the other one scuttled down the wall, bare feet and claws making a faint scraping sound as it moved along the pillar. The chained monster groaned but kept struggling. She felt its strength as it worked against the metal.

When the other creature was about 15 feet from the ground and Monica’s position, it launched itself downward like a dart, claws swiping wildly. One of them caught the top of her right hand as she brought it up to block a blow, slashing through her mesh weave gauntlet once more. In its frenzied assault, though, it’d left a significant opening in its defenses.

 

[siobhancan99]

MOnica left the one struggling. She had to deal with the active one. She lashed out with a booted foot, trying to kick the thing hard enough to drive it away from her in addition to hurting it. She was already going to be torn up and her desire for Gabi to see her like this was non-existent, so she threw her all into it.

 

[Halcyon638]

As Monica unleased the attack, she felt the restrained vampire-like creature tugging hard against the chain. Striking the new arrival in the sternum, she was able to then give the other creature’s chain a pull as it fought her.

The unchained monster was propelled back a few feet and let out a hiss flecked with spittle. It then rushed toward her, attempting to wrap its arms around her. She felt its powerful limbs encircle her, the rotting meat stench of its breath making her eyes water.

It held her arms fast now. She felt the chain slide out of her grasp, heard the clinking of the metal against the concrete as the other beast slid free.

The monster grabbing her opened its jaws wide, razor-sharp fangs closing toward her neck.

 

[siobhancan99]

"dammit" this wasn't going well. She should have knocked the one out.She was closed in with two on her. This was bad. She grabbed the one that had ahold of her, and smashed her face down as hard as she could against it's nose, trying to stun it or knock it out of the fight altogether.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica felt the impact radiate through her forehead and neck as she headbutted the creature hard. Its nose erupted in a fountain of blood, spilling down onto the both of them. For a moment, the creature’s head wobbled, stunned, and she felt the vise-like arms ease up a bit, but then she saw a gleam of rage flare up in its inhuman eyes.

The fangs dug into her left shoulder so quickly it took a moment for the pain to register. Pain, and something else—she felt her limbs growing heavy, and there seemed to be a delay in between signaling to them what she wanted them to do and what exactly they did.

She heard an “Oh, shit!” and assorted cries of distress from inside the train car as the second monster tried to also latch onto her. She was able somehow to kick one leg out enough to shove it away, if only for a fleeting second.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica followed up with a frenzy of attacks. She launched a punch for the gut of the one that bit her, and then lashed out with a booted foot for the midsection of the other. She couldn't die on this damned platform, not like this. Not in front of people. People that would then post the video everywhere.

 

[Halcyon638]

The creature clinging to her managed to momentarily shift its taloned hand downward to prevent her punch from finding its midsection, before reasserting its grasp on her once more.

Her kick had more success. The blow struck the other monster square in the stomach, sending it crunching into the pillar from which it had descended. It slid to the ground. The other creature attempted to adjust its position to bite her again.

Monica felt the fangs pressing against the neck of her costume as the creature bear hugged her to its chest. Fortunately, the Centauri material held, stymieing its bite.

 

[siobhancan99]

Bringing up her hands, she grabbed for the thing's head, trying to crush the skull and cause enough pain to make it move away "fuck.... off.... you fucking ugly fucking piece of shit" yes, her superhero banter was shitty tonight. No getting around it. Plus she had to be brutal, this was about making it home, not looking good for the people recording on their phones.

 

[Halcyon638]

Monica’s gloved fingers, slick with her own blood, somehow found purchase on the sides of the creature’s head. She pressed her fingers into pressure points at the base of the neck.

The creature let out a low groan, which morphed into a whine, before dropping her, stumbling off with a clawed hand to the right side of its head. After a few feet, it stopped, then sprawled on the concrete ledge dangling over the train tracks, twitching and whimpering.

The fire in her shoulder was dying down, somewhat. She heard sirens above.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica pressed the advantage, moving in she delivered a hard kick. She hurt, a lot, Gabi was going to be upset and god knew how many more of these things there were crawling around the city. Speed had to take precedence over mercy.

 

[Halcyon638]

After the kick, the creature lay still, its chest visibly rising and falling with each breath. “Are you okay?” Monica heard Eve say. The musician had exited the car and was gaping at the blood dripping off her suit. Leaning on her was Ian, looking pale, a crimson-soaked T-shirt wrapped around his left thigh.

A pair of police officers, one of them corpulent and seemingly a few years overdue for retirement, made their way down the stairs.

A quick conversation with the duo revealed that police had finally gotten the situation under control, not long after the governor had given the order to send in the National Guard.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded to Eve "thank you Citizen." She was glad that this thing didn't seem to be transmitted through bites or anything, and she did her best to stifle her concern for Ian. They must have just finished their show when the attacks happened. Bad timing. She made her way out of the subway, then headed home. She got the EMT's to give her some stuff to stitch herself up, then headed home, texting Gabi "apartment clear?" before climbing the fire escape.

 

[Halcyon638]

GABI: Yes! All clear here. You HAVE to go see Elise really quick, tho. She started sobbing when she found out you weren’t here (we just told her there was a fire in the neighborhood which was actually true).

When Monica entered the apartment, Gabi strode towards her to put her arms around her, but then seeing the amount of damage to her costume, slowed her pace. “Querida,” she said, extending her arms but letting her girlfriend put her arms where it felt comfortable. “Melanie is safe. Are you…?”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica winced "im not great. So we're gonna have to tell Elise something. Cause i need you to stitch me up" she worked out of her armor "I can't do it myself, obviously, because of where it is." she got out some alcohol and peroxide and set about sterilizing the wounds "we can tell Elise i jumped through a window or something to get away from one of the things." She tried to keep it brisk, to keep Gabi focused on helping her instead of freaking out "lets get this done then I can go see Elise ok?"

 

[Halcyon638]

Gabi’s eyes widened. She twisted the ends of a lock of her hair as she got a look at Monica’s wounds. “Um.” She swallowed. “I’ll…I’ll try. Just like sewing a new button on a shirt. Only…with skin.”

Gabi worked to put Monica’s hair in a bun while the older girl applied the disinfectants. “Yeah, she doesn’t know there were monsters involved. You can tell her you fell while…” She paused as she eyed the tip of the needle. “While you were…running from the fire.”

Monica could see her lover’s fingers trembling ever so slightly as they lowered the needle into place. “Please tell me if I’m doing it wrong.”

Though she’d only applied it in the field once, when Thalmer had helped her break into the HelixCorp lab, Monica had been instructed on how to suture a wound by her mother.

Her mother had given her daughter her first lesson by slapping her own arm on the backyard picnic table, then opening up a 5-inch gash with a hunting knife while then-10-year-old Monica looked on in horror. “Are you going to stand there and watch me bleed, or are you going to do what I taught you?” her mother had asked.

Monica instructed Gabi, remembering the steps her mother had taught her. Gabi worked the needle through slowly, not wanting to get it wrong, but prolonging the pain. “Oh, god,” the brunette said as the needle slipped a bit, scratching the skin.

Still, once the neck wound was closed, the Latina seemed to gain a little confidence. Monica’s hand would be fine with just a bandage, so only her stomach needed more sutures.

Gabi knelt in front of her. “Sorry!” she said at another slip of the needle. At last, she tied off the stitches for the second wound.

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica grimaced "if you're going to be a doctor babe you gotta learn. Might as well get used to doing it on me" she inhaled, then exhaled. She hmmmed "maybe ill just wear a turtleneck and go tell her that I am fine and I was stuck outside while the police had the building closed off" she shifted "that would help with Sid too. Honestly, i hate my job now so i'm definitely using this as an excuse not to go in Monday. I'll just tell them I was attacked by the one in our building and managed to get away." when Gabi was done, she cupped her face and kissed her softly "thank you. You shouldn't have had to do this. I.... I'm sorry. I'm sorry I am who I am. It's not fair to you."

 

[Halcyon638]

“It should be fine if you just keep the bandage on,” Gabi said softly. “I don’t think it’ll freak her out or anything.”

As Monica took her girlfriend’s face in her hands, she could see the faint gleam of tears around her dark eyes. Her lip quivered almost imperceptibly. “Let’s go see Elise, ‘kay? She’s probably super tired.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica nodded and changed her shirt. Moving across the hall she knocked on Sid's door.

 

[Halcyon638]

Sid expressed his relief at Monica’s safe return and his sympathies for her injuries, then went to get Elise. The exhausted child gave her a hug, and after some thank yous for the girls’ babysitting services and a promise to take Elise swimming again, their neighbor carried his daughter off to put her to bed.

Saturday and Sunday brought reports of the incident’s aftermath. There had been 6 reported deaths, along with approximately 20 or so injuries, some of them serious. In addition to accounts of Monica’s involvement in stopping the attacks, there was a report of someone yielding light-based powers taking down one of the creatures in the Westbridge neighborhood. All of the transformed humans had been at a nightclub the week before, and it was believed that they’d been slipped some variant of Swat during the night.

The attack dominated conversation for the first few days of Monica’s 5th week of her 6-week internship, with her injuries garnering both attention and sympathy, until talk finally started wrapping around to more normal topics around midweek.

Nellie slunk over to Monica’s desk after lunch but before their peers had returned. “So, Mon. You still serious about being my wingwoman? I’m thinking of hitting up a lesbian bar this weekend. Or you and Gabi can be my wingwomen. I figure the more help I get, the better.”

 

[siobhancan99]

Monica smiled as Flashpoint had clearly had a taste of heroism. Or at least was forced into it by circumstance. Maybe he'd come around. It'd be nice to have another hero.

Monica laughed "Nelly you're leaving in like, 8 days. I think most lesbians aren't of the wham bam drive back to mississippi variety" she rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair "but if you want to go out some this weekend we can. I'll text my girl and see if she's around."

Texting Gabi "hey, you free this weekend? Nelly wants a wing-woman and I have no desire to be around some thirsty lesbians without you."