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Join Date: Jan 2008
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[Shadow Hawk has effectively dropped off the radar] Captain Midnight realizes after searching the city for two days. He had already flown by John Dark’s house but the vigilante hasn’t returned home since their encounter.
“He has to have a base of operations somewhere else in the city” Cole Turner muses out loud as he arrives at the Lady Isabella Catholic School for Girls.
He had to be careful here otherwise he might look like some kind of pervert spying on high school girls. But it was imperative he find John and according to the records he’s been able to find, John’s little sister Jessica attends this very institution. But he couldn’t seem to find a photograph of her anywhere. Cole started to wonder if that was deliberate. If maybe John had managed to get rid of her information in an effort to protect her from something? Or did it have just been because their father was chief of police and the department had done it in an effort to keep them safe after his death?
The end of day bell began ringing, immediately followed by girls rushing out the front door heading toward their cars or the school bus depending upon whether or not they were old enough to drive. Then Cole saw her. The resemblance to her brother was uncanny. Her hair was lighter and she was of course a lot smaller but the facial features and the eyes were unmistakable. If she was older they could’ve been twins.
Jessica headed towards the parking area, but not to an automobile, no this girl rode a motorcycle. She kick started the bike on the first try and took off on the street dangerously weaving in and out of traffic. Captain Midnight was hard pressed to keep up with her. His flying speed wasn’t a match for the street bike’s horsepower.
She turned left at the corner heading toward the center of town [where was she going?] The trees of Liberty Park sprouted up in the distance as well as the looming presence of a clock tower. Instinctively Cole realized that was where she was headed and flew straight in that direction instead of zigzagging behind her following the contour of the streets.
He arrived at the clock tower just before she did and hovered behind a tree trying to remain out of sight. Jessica pushed her bike under the cover of some bushes and walked up to the rear entrance. There she pressed some numbers in a keypad and the door slowly swung outward. She stepped inside and the lighting automatically came on as the hidden motion sensors acknowledged her presence.
Captain Midnight flew down toward the door but it slammed closed before he could stop it. Then he heard clicking as bolts slid into place firmly locking the door. He wondered for a moment if he could blast through it but decided against it. John already thought him an enemy and busting down the door would only confirm that theory. No he had to get the vigilante to trust him. It was imperative they work together to prevent this disaster from taking place.
Inside the clock tower Jessica rode the elevator up to the “War” room where the Sentinel Supercomputer was set up to monitor various radio frequencies and satellite feeds. Sebastian was sitting in his executive office chair hacking away at the terminal seemingly unaware of her presence.
“Where’s John?” she asked as she dropped her backpack on the conference table.
“Not here” Sebastian King answered as he continued to type on the keyboard without looking at her.
“Obviously not” she replied “what’s so important on there” she continued pointing at the large monitor that encompassed the entire wall.
“Trying to gather as much info as I can on this Captain Midnight character.”
“The one who picked a fight with John?”
“The very same” Sebastian answered and then continued what he was doing.
Jessica knew she wasn’t going to get anymore out of him so she plopped down in a chair and opened her backpack. She had an English term paper do next week and hadn’t had the chance to even start it yet.
[Now is as good a time as any] she figured since she couldn’t do any “hero” stuff until John returned.
Back outside in the park Captain Midnight hears a rustling in the underbrush. As he turns toward the noise a cable shoots out like a viper striking and wraps itself around his leg. The razor sharp claws on the grappler dug into his shin drawing blood. He screams out in surprise and pain just as the adrenaline kicks in. He launches himself straight up towards the clouds dragging the cable behind him.
Dangling on the other end of the line was Shadow Hawk who too was caught by surprise. The vigilante retracted the cable pulling himself within inches of Captain Midnight’s ankle. Then he clasped his right hand around the ankle and extended the blade on his left.
“Land now or I’m going to shove this blade through your leg” Shadow Hawk demands menacingly.
Cole thought a moment before complying. He really didn’t want to hurt the vigilante and the only other alternative he saw was to shake him loose. And that wasn’t really an option. As he got close to the ground John let go and landed on his feet. Cole landed beside him and crossed his arms.
“This ends now John. I need your help otherwise I fear the end of our race is just around the corner.”
“Okay Midnight you’ve caught my interest. Let’s go inside the Citadel” Shadow Hawk said pointing at the clock tower.
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