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Chapter 18
by
micdan282
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Reporting In
The moon was beginning to dip behind the skyline when Nightingale landed on the rooftop of the precinct. Her boots hit the concrete with a muted thud, the grappling line retracting back into her wrist gauntlet. Detective Thatcher was already waiting for her, a thermos in one hand and a cigarette burning low in the other. He looked up as she approached, face drawn and tired, though not surprised to see her.
“Well?” he asked.
“It’s done.” She answered, walking up to him. “The auction was broken up. The buyers scattered. The weapons destroyed.”
He took a sip from his thermos. “How clean?”
“Cleaner than I expected,” she admitted. “There was a lot of heat, but no casualties.”
That caught his attention. He lowered the thermos. “She held back?”
Nightingale nodded. “Whisper kept her word. No killing.”
Thatcher stared at her for a long moment, cigarette burning down to the filter between his fingers. “Huh.”
“I didn’t think she would either,” Nightingale said quietly. “But she did. Maybe she’s not-”
“Don’t think like that.” He snapped. “Keeping a promise doesn’t erase the rest of it. You know that.”
“I do.”
“She’ll use that trust to pull you closer. That’s what she does.”
“How do you know that? How do you know everything you do on her? There’s something you’re not telling me.”
Thatcher didn’t answer for a long time. Slowly, he lit another cigarette and inhaled deeply.
“I’ve worked with her before,” He admitted. “She wasn’t always how she is now but that was a long time ago.”
Rikki nodded.
“Maybe there’s still something left in her that wants to be better.”
“That part of her died a long time ago,” he muttered, flicking the cigarette away and watching the embers scatter on the wind. “And if it didn’t, she’s buried it deep.”
They stood in silence for a while.
“I’m going to try and get more information from her,” Rikki decided. “She had intel on the auction, who knows what else she knows.”
Thatcher gave a slow nod. “Then keep digging. But don’t get comfortable with her. Promise me that.”
“I promise.”
He nodded slowly.
“You look like shit. Go get some rest,” he said, turning to the rooftop door. “You’re no good to me dead.”
She watched him go, her thoughts clouded by the memory of her night with Whisper.
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Perils of a Novice Superheroine
A generic superheroing setting drenched with sex and scandal
Acropolis City, the center of super-human and caped crusader activity in this particular world - with its own dizzying highs and lows, high-tech skylines and slums standing in stark, four-color contrast, it provided everything that a costumed megalomaniac or masked vigilante could ask for. In fact, as is usually the case where colorful masked characters are the norm, it has become something of an institution by this point. But although the mere existence of costumed heroes and villains no longer shocks people, these people - who, by their very nature, thrive on attention - keep finding new ways to stand out from the crowd and attract the eye. This last goal tends to get a lot of emphasis in the most simple, sexualized way possible. For reasons that the world's most brilliant scientists have yet to explain, latent super-abilities seem to manifest more often in women than men by a ratio of 3 to 1 or more. This is true even when the superpower isn't "natural"; paranormal artifacts fall into their hands, esoteric martial arts schools never seem to have a male heir, the technological prototypes they test always seem to be the ones that are most easily used or abused for good and evil. Unfortunately, the glory days of the past where citizens were happy to see any old masked do-gooder show up are over - in recent years, Acropolis City has established a ranking system of heroes where those who get high marks from the citizens and resolve incidents are rewarded with corporate sponsorships and (most coveted of all) seats at the prestigious League of Propriety. Those who intimidate the populace, cause excessive collateral damage, or simply don't excite anyone, garnering low rankings, get 'asked' to move to less prestigious cities. Few superheroes want to get stuck battling clans of villainous hillbillies and corrupt small-town sheriffs for the rest of their careers, so they're always eager to please the influential citizens of Acropolis City (judges, eminent scientists, first responders, and of course the all-important reporters). On the other side of the law, a similar dynamic predominates; only the most glamorous and charismatic costumed ne'er-do-wells can make it in this town. And so, the novice superheroines just learning the ways of battling for justice and order, without any team to back them up, always end up patrolling the skeeviest, most undesirable slums of the city and taking on the most thankless rescues. As if that weren't bad enough, most of them feel obliged to dress in ways that get more outlandish and revealing with every passing year while they fight the good fight and/or feed their craving for attention, depending on how you see the 'cape life'. As if that weren't troublesome enough, the superhuman mutations that make so many of these heroes' careers possible also result in greatly increased sexual sensitivity, particularly in females. The adventures and misadventures that these spandex-clad lady crusaders get into are often too hot to print for the kind of comics that their young admirers would read. Messy mistakes will be made, but you don't want to disappoint your readers, do you? So let the League know what kind of superheroine you are, your chosen name, powers, and appearance, and they'll send you out on your first patrols. Good luck.
Updated on Dec 27, 2025
by micdan282
Created on Nov 30, 2016
by fyreant
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