Nighthawk

   “Comic books” Dianna though Rarely do they catch the true story, and they tend to glorify and immortalize the hero. Some of the Heroes that they wrote about could be said to be immortal. After all Stan Lee wrote about Wolverine, his healing ability had kept him timeless. She had met Magneto recently as he had tried to recruit her to his army. She had no wish to be in that mess. While other Mutants fought a war over who was going to rule the world. She simply kept her part up saving people and being a positive point in human society. This war over Mutant life's next evolution or Mutant humanities protectors really bothered her. Dianna Hartel was a good citizen, she had a day job and was well behaved. It had been 5 years since Xavier's School for Gifted Children and she and her crew had saved countless people. 

   Those closest to her knew she was Nighthawk, Tony had designed a suit that kept her from radar, and concealed who she really was. Her father had helped her dye her feathers modeled brown and black on top then gray and white on bottom. This made it easier for her hard to see from land or air. George had become an expert falconer with his ability to tend her feathers. He even got calls from local rescues to come and help fix broken and damaged wings. Dianna was as proud of her father, as he had been of her. “I’m going out tonight dad, I think I will fly to Indianapolis tonight. The crime rate there by mutants and just plain bad guys has risen some.” She saw concern but approval from her old man. She could see the gray forming at his temples. 

“Tony wants to try out his new helmet with visual enhancement and communication device, he keeps babbling how Tony Stark liked it. But he wanted to keep it for himself. I still can’t believe they are on a first name basis.” George chucked, “yeah last summer's tech convention was a bit of a surprise hearing Hey Tony. Oh high Tony how are you Tony, I’m fine Tony.” she laughed as her father mimicked the two chatting together. God above and below I think they like to say their names.” As if saying his name had summoned him Tony sashayed through the front door with Jodie close behind him. Dianna set down her toast, brushed off her hands and took the now presented helm into hand to inspect. It was a Hawk head shaped helmet, she knew that tony had adjusted the helmet to make it easier for her to breath and see. With telescopic adjustable vision. “Put it on.” Tony urged her to put it on, sighing Dianna shrugged. 

Once on she noticed how much lighter this helmet was to the other one they had built. Jodie smiled and took from her bag a headset that was wireless and tapped a ear bud. “So beautiful can you hear me?”. Dianna blushed, who knew that she was bisexual and would now claim a girlfriend. “Yup Jodie your sweet voice is as lovely as a song birds.” the return flirt had made the males in the room a bit uncomfortable. The relationship she had with Jodie was new, and had blossomed over the last year of working together. With a cough “More time later today for you two to flirt and act like puppy lovers. Now,” tony reached out and explained each function having her work through them one by one. This new helmet was capable of seeing the ground from 3200 feet up clearly enough to see a ladybug on a leaf. She adjusted the vision in and out a few times. “We can see what you're seeing, and we are able to link to scanners within your vicinity. Pointing you in the right direction.” 

Dianna knew what no one else did, Jodie knew before the scanner did what was the most pressing. Jodie hid her gift of foresight. She was terrified that if anyone but Danna knew that she might be drug into a facility and used to find others or predict government targets of choice. She didn’t want to be the reason that Mutants were able to be hunted down and killed. Her dreams and visions had shown her what the government really did with mutants they confined. She had broken down into sobs one evening when they were by the lake far from anyone to see. Jodie had told her of the horrible things her sight had warned her could happen to her. It wasn’t till last fall when Jody had screamed at her to move and move now. That Dianna had believed that her foresight was really that strong. Because of it Dianna had avoided being shot with a AK-47 that might have just killed her. Armor piercing bullets, did penetrate her flight suit, and a shot to the heart would still kill her. 

That very night Tony and Jodie had started planning a better flight suit, it had to be light. It needed to be able to keep her wings free and not hamper her ability to move. This had proven a challenge. The helmet was the last part that they had been perfecting. Tonight she would test the entire suit, with her father, best friend and girlfriend in the control room. Tony was in charge of the tech, Jodie in communication, and her father geography and everything to do with her flight path from air speed to weather. 

That night was long, she had saved a family from a car wreck in a gully outside of Lawrence Indiana. Not all police had a yen to shoot the Mutant heroes that were out there. The man she had delivered the little girl to a week ago had been very thankful for Nighthawks help. “Just know Nighthawk, not everyone hates you for being you. I will stand with you if you need me.” she had thanked him. “Dianna, you need to head into Indianapolis. There is a research lab on Delaware St, And a man on the roof shooting people. Reports say that there is active gun fire, and a lot of people are in the way.” She picked up her pace flying with the Southeastern wind current that her father had sent to her HUD.  

Well this was the action for the night. Dianna could see the gun fire and three officers and a firefighter were pinned down. In the street The man on the roof had a fully automatic weapon and was determined to shoot people. Well that was an advantage he wasn’t watching behind him or above and she was silent when she struck knocking him to the rooftop and out cold. She lifted him from the rooftop to the ground bringing his weapon with him and handing it to the officer that stood there looking at her in shock. “It was his partner who responded “Thank you, ma’am, uh miss?” though he couldn’t see it she smiled “Nighthawk sir. Do we know what caused all of this?” As they cuffed him and placed him into the back of the squad car he shook his head. He was screaming some really crazy stuff about true humanity and the fact that the lab was part of the system creating mutants. Honestly though, we only got about half of what he was saying.” Dianna had heard much of all of this conspiracy theorists thinking that private investors and criminal minds were creating super villains to take over the world.

Dianna did her best to stay off the videos and posts of social media and the TV news station. So when she saw the news van squeal its tires around the corner to record the incident she knew it was time to leave. With a salute she launched into the air, not giving the reporters and cameras time enough to catch her. “Phone cameras were going to be the bane of her future as a superhero. Phones are getting video capability these days.” She thought as she flew back toward home. “Right now the quality of the cameras was not the best today she knew that it would only get worse as the cameras got better.” What she had not seen was the Government specialist that was there with his camera, they had staged the mad man in hopes that they could catch good footage of her or one of the other many superheroes in the area. Though they did not have her face it was only a matter of time. And now with her wing pattern they might be able to identify her. 

George heard a knock at the front door, who could be calling at this hour. He opened the door and that was all that the men in battle gear needed to invade the home. They swooped in like cats on mice. Jodie had seen them just before and shocked Tony as she stood and whipped the computers and destroyed the console they had used to communicate and track Hawk. “What are you doing!” Jodie pointed at the door just as it was blown open by a group of men that surged in and pushed them to the floor not caring if they hurt their detainees. “Mutants detained sir.” they had heard one of the men report over a mic. Clearing the house now and setting the trap for the mutant known as Hawk.

It was near morning light when she returned to the safety of her home, she landed and found the lights dark. That was normal once her home crew knew she was on the way home. When she opened the sliding door her hair stood on end. Something was not right. The house was too quiet. 

The men were in full battle gear, and waiting in the dark house. They had already detained the others that they found there, holding them in squad cars out front of the home. “Accomplices to a vigilant” were their charge. The mutants would serve a greater penalty because they had powers. Quietly they had waited for her return. Then she heard Jodie scream, “Hawk Run!” Gun fire erupted at her turning and bolting out the door. The voice had been Jodie, how in the hell!? She felt the bullets ripping through her suit and into her body, the worst was the bullet that lodged in her shoulder blade and second shoulder slowing her ability to fly. The helicopter that few past her had a visual but even injured as she was nothing would catch her if she could reach the Western Current flapping as hard as she could she climbed. 

Once she reached the upper air current she lost the helicopter that had been tracking her. Without a visual or a tracker they had no way to capture her. 

Dianna figured that they would think she was going back to Xavier and his school. She had no wish to bring this into her much loved school. But she needed help. She activated the cell service in her helmet, it was made from what they called a burner phone. Somehow Xavier always knew when one of his kids was in trouble. “Hello Hawk. I am sending you a text with an address. This is a safe house. Don’t call your Dad's cell phone. It will only make things worse. Fly Hawk fly away from here. You need time.” Xavier kept his voice calm and soft. “I will try to find your Father and your friends.” the contact doesn’t know you are coming, tell him how now brown cow. This is a code we set up for him to help anyone I send his way.” 

The white haired older man sat looking at his book shelves, there were so many comics, all of them written to ease the barriers between Mutants and Altered Humans and the common man. Countless houses and days spent drawing and writing based on the information that came from private sources to him making him the historic chronicler of the heroes he wrote about. He enjoyed writing about the X-men and Avengers but there were so many other heroes to write about. He pulled his wife into his lap as she had just brought him a morning cup of coffee. “Stan, sh scoffed with much humor. I have work and so do you.” he chuckled and patted her fanny as she rose from his lap. She turned around and kissed his cheek. “Joan you're a peach and I love you, Give J.C my love when you see her for lunch. Heroes to draw and stories to write.” with that he turned and went to work. 

He was referring to a previous issue of the X-Men when a hard thump hit the back deck and the deck furniture of his west Hollywood hill home crashed off the edge. Stan rose and ran to the back door. “Was the war for Mutant supremacy coming to his very own yard, God he hoped not.” What he found was a young woman bleeding crying and shaking from excessive exertion. The flight had not been easy even with using the winds to fly west. Dianna had made good time in flight. The bullets in her body kept healing over then tearing open again. The one lodged between shoulders scraped between them causing her agony now that she had stopped flying. “How now,” she hissed and gasped in pain “Brown…” that was all she got. The world went black. His face swam into her view “Was that Stan Lee?” She was sure she was delusional “Easy now, the Doc is fixing you but we can’t keep you under anesthetics.” The next few hours were pain filled and then bliss. All the bullets were gone. With the lack of pain she again passed out. 

It seemed like forever when the Girl woke, Stan couldn’t believe it he had Hawk, one of the hopefuls he had been watching right there in his living room asleep on the couch. His wife was tending her like a woman with a wounded critter. He loved her so very much, her kindness made his life more bearable. “Stan, we need to get her in the bunker. That is the only safe place for her.” Joan knew that her husband was caught up in the moment. “Xavier said she needed to hide for a few days. “Lets get her there. Then figure out how to best help her.” The two older people helped walk the very drugged Dianna to a bunker. Once closed no one would ever know it was there. 

Stan and Joan took turns watching over her through a secret path under the tool shed in the backyard. That too was invisible for the outside and it had to recognize you to show up. It was four days of healing and recovery before Dianna really knew what was what. “So according to Charles your father and friends are being held by M.T.F. America, that is the Mutant Task For America. A completely government run mutant police force. You either work for them or you are a threat.” We have a secure communication unit that you will be able to talk to them through, they can not find you here. Only if you choose to go to them could they find you at this point. She picked up the phone and dialed the number, she was surprised that the voice on the other end was a human, not a recorded line that she would need to traverse to get a real human. 

 “Good after Noon M.T.F. America headquarters DC unit.” the woman's voice was so pleasant, yet Hawk still wanted to reach through and grab her throat. She would need to take care and not put her anger on this woman. After all she was just a secretary, not the people that had taken her family prisoners. 

“This is Nighthawk, I want to talk to whomever is in charge of the supposed case that you have with me. And Please I would like to talk to my father.” there was a series of clicks as she was transferred. Finally a smooth cool male voice came over the line. “Hello Miss Hartel, yes we have your family, friend and lover. If you turn yourself in they will not be harmed and you will find the situation agreeable. For every day you do not arrive at our address here in DC we will shoot one of them as an accomplice to a vigilante as they are all mutants the Mutant act of 2005 gives us the right to place suitable mutants into camps for retraining, or shoot undesired and unable to be reformed mutants. Let me remind you they can’t heal the way you can.” his cool calm matter of fact demeanor let her know that there was little room to budge. This man would do exactly what he said.

“Now shall we see you in 24 hours?” he already knew the answer, but forced her to comply.

“Yes, I will be there by morning, I ask that you let my father help you understand what I will need when I arrive. It is a longer flight than I am used to.”