The Stupendous Swan Girl

CW: cursing

Swan girl swung from the telephone cables with effortless ease, piercing through the already deafening noise pollution of the uptown boroughs with her prominent call...

"Ger-On-I-Mo!!" she yelled somersaulting and landing on top of the rooftop of her favorite pizzeria with a burst of adrenaline. This was a place where she frequently surveyed the streets of New York City looking for signs of unruly behavior in the crowds of people walking by. 

Swan girl had the city's most deplorable in fear of her presence, they trembled in their boots at the sight of her iconic crimson-red cape and red cowl ensemble. One could say, the city was truly blessed by its invigorated heroine who found solace in ensuring its upkeep.

After the longest thirty minutes of her life, Swan girl suddenly got a calling. A sign so important, she felt the roaring in her gut. So she put a placeholder on her daily surveillance and continued back down to the concrete jungle in search of her new paramount duty traveling northbound and following the destination points on her phone's GPS.  

An active robbery in the works at Brownsville district? It can wait. Suspected stabbing in Fifth Avenue? Ha! No thank you. Swan girl had continued on to her perilous journey skipping through sidewalk squares, carefully avoiding the contraction joints. She peddled through shady neighborhoods and dark alleyways until she had finally been beckoned by the sight of her main culprit; He had been spotted inside a Lebanese food truck in Central Park.

"Yes. Fuck, yes!", she whispered rubbing her hands together with a trickle of saliva running down the corner of her lips. She ogled at the assortment of take-away beef products on display and tapped on the menu to the one she liked.

"Ah! Someone's hungry. What can I get you, young lady?" said the familiar Lebanese man behind the counter. 

"Oh yes yes yes yes"... she said delightedly. "This is the one. This one would do Mr. Khalil. Number 2 with a large Dr. Pibb." she said licking her lips.

"You got it-"

"OH, and a side of Lentil soup and hummus...with chips" she added.

"Of course" he smiled. "How's is your mom and dad?"

"Eh, they're Ok... ". Swan girl sighed.

"Good. Listen, I'm gonna give you an extra side of hummus and a beet and chickpea falafel for your Mom, you know she always helps me when...and...say...very much..." Swan girl had dozed off only hearing bits and pieces of the end, her undivided attention instead on the thick cuts of beef sizzling on the grill. 

"Yeah, yeah. Ok. Mr. Khalil I got you." Swan girl blurted after slamming her loose change on the counter. She snatched her bags of food and ran off to a bench in the park to enjoy.

Then proceeded to devour the food like it was her last meal, including the falafel, wiping the crumbs with the back of her cape and sucking the residue from each finger.

"Mmm! I'm in heaven! Mama like." she said slouching down on the bench with her eyes rolled back, she loosened up her belt and belched unapologetically.

*****

After the tasty rejuvenation Swan girl's phone had been alerted by her tech-savvy side-kick, Ho-Ming Pigeon, aka Michelle Ming, aka her "sister from another mister". She scrolled through the messages of her distress call and text messages with screenshots of a CCTV image.

Ho-ming pigeon: SWAN *URGENT* check dis URL out!!!

Swan-girl: CAN YOU ACT MORE LIKE ALFRED, HO jezus

Ho-ming pigeon: swan, the doc had been spotted, some men just want to watch the world burn...

Swan-girl: THANK U!!!!

It was her evil arch-nemesis who had stolen Swan girls ability to fly, Dr. Malpractice AKA Dr. Mal. This villain was known fearfully throughout the city for his elusiveness and evil gene manipulation procedures. He left his victims an imperfect version of what they once were whilst harnessing their abilities for himself. Dr. Mal was driven by his incentive to become more powerful and live longer than the average person.

Swan girl stared angrily at images of Dr. Mal, a well-dressed menace with a long white coat and light blue full-faced mask with specialized blue medical nitrile gloves that he used for ill intentions.

She quickly face-timed her side-kick Ho-Ming pigeon for the coordinates.

"Maggy! I have his.. damn!." she paused.

"Jesus fucking christ, Michelle. Do not. Use. My. Real name!!"

"I'm so so sorry. I mean't to say... Swan girl. -Uh... Oh yeah! I have coordinates for Dr. Mal who had been spotted on Bedford Ave in the alleyway next to the White Castle. Careful Swan girl, he is armed and dangerous". Ho-Ming pigeon advised.

"Certainly, Ho-Ming pigeon. I will head over there post-haste and rearrange his innards.".

Swan girl paced her gaze along the sidewalk looking for the city bus.

"I still don't know why you insist on calling me that, Swan girl. I think pigeon girl sounds way more catchy..."

"Silence wench! Ah, yes where was I? To the welfare wagon!"

"...Ugh, so offensive..." Ho-Ming pigeon hung up.

Swan girl spotted a city bus and ran to hitch behind it standing on its' rear bumper. She felt the hot exhaust gases on her face as she scowled and waved the smoke away.

While halted by a passenger waiting at the bus stop, she hopped out and jumped over the top of a parked cab denting the frame. She attempted parkour across a food kart tumbling down crushing an assortment of flowers and plants on the sidewalk before running away.

"Hey! Come back here, you're gonna pay for that!". 

"Shit. Sorry, Mrs. Patel. I got you next week. I promise!"

"That's the third time with this girl"

Swan girl had found the narrow alley on Bedford Ave. After searching through parked cars, she sees a white coat at her peripherals passing swiftly. The doctor had ran down the alleyway disappearing behind a couple of foul-smelling dumpsters. She immediately brought out her cane with the brass eagle handle swinging it in circular and diagonal motions.

"Show yourself Doctor, your days of screwing over the innocent is over!".

As Swan girl turned the corner, the Dr. stood hiding under a second story staircase and bulged out his head through the rails and waved some screws around.

"Ha ha! Here birdy birdy, it's time to give up this exhausting dream about getting to fly again..." Dr. Mal had dropped the screws down to her feet, she jumped out of the way and looked at them confused.

"It's really too much don't you think? And just plain sad. How long has it been Swan, three years?" he added. "Three long years of this pathetic cat and mouse chase?"

Swan girl punched the dumpster with her closed fists. "Shut the fuck up!" she screamed.

"Its been much longer than that and you know it. If you don't reverse this procedure, I'll make sure I break every bone in that scrawny musculoskeletal system of yours.".

"Real funny, Swan. I'll call your time of death..." The doctor said pulling an air conditioner unit from the window besides him. "It's now!" He laughed and watched it fall onto the heroine knocking her unconscious while he disappeared towards the rooftop. Swan had fallen sideways on the filthy floor making a loud thud.

******

"Ah, Maggy! Have you been leaning again?" Maggy's mother came rushing to lift her daughter up. She had grown accustomed to the sounds of her wheelchair hitting the wooden floor. "Why do you have no nunchi?!" She scolded. She licked her fingers and brushed Maggy's hair behind her ear.

"Um-mahhhh! Y'know it's gross when you do that! Just get out." Maggy groaned, pushing her mom's hand away. "Please, just leave me alone."

"Maggy. Why can't you be like your friend Michelle...? She does not act so stubborn and rude to her parents" she said.

"Just ship me out to my Hal-abeoji then, Jesus Christ, since I'm such a fucking burden".

Maggy yelled and wheeled over to her balcony. Her mother had sighed disappointedly and left the room.

"You can stick the nunchi up your ass..." Maggy whispered.

Maggy slid her balcony glass door open and immediately felt the cold wind from 13-stories up wrapped in her crimson red blanket. She often stared out into the city and imagined what people were up to on their own terms with their own free wills and without the burden of their family's dragging them down. How lucky were they to live life unfettered?

Maggy continued on in her routine, she ate, she watched television, played video games and DnD with her best friend Michelle and spent a large quantity of time on her computer that was surrounded by little swan origamis.

*****

It's that time of the month. Exactly 90 days, every three months when Maggy graced her presence at Union City Medical Center to see her physician with her mother, Dr. Joseph H. Park, PhD. Maggy had dreaded the day being forced by her mother to see him so he could give her the same answers and empty promises.

They both sat in the waiting room besides a small coffee table with plastic plants and cheap ceramic vases with certificates and diplomas decorating the walls. Maggy gritted her teeth and crumbled a magazine on the table and sneakily placed it back.

"Quack, quack quack..." she whispered staring at the frames while her mom read a monthly fashion magazine.

"Margaret. it's good to see you and your mom again" The physician said, coming in to greet both of them with a smile and a nod. He was a young handsome doctor, who always dressed in bright colored buttoned shirts, a patterned tie and a white coat.

He guided them over down a short hallway to a door with his credentials placard in the center. Inside was a large room with his desk and walls decorated with pictures with other doctors standing in front of hospitals and more certificates.

"Margaret it's good to see that you and your mother are looking well."

"It's good to see you too, Dr. Park". said Maggy's mother smiling eagerly.

"I want to thank you both for being very patient with me, Margaret you especially. I did speak with your mother about an experimental treatment with genetic manipulation just a week ago, Okay? We want to see if we can get that sensation back in your legs again. But, I just need you two to promise to give me a little more time. I'm in talks with the Ethics Committee right now, couple members are from the Medical Center in Seoul. So you'd be pleased to hear that, Mrs. Kim. Let's continue to stay put and we'll see if we can get you an appointment in the next coming months...Now that's a lot better news from the last time we met up isn't' that right, Margaret?" he laughed. 

"Ah yes, haha..." Maggy forced an insincere chuckle.

"Other than that how are you feeling these days, Ms. Margaret?"

"I'm Good. Been good, thanks."

"Okay, well that's good to hear. Now if you want to give me and your mother a few minutes to speak a little more in-depth on your behalf, Margaret. Thank you" he smiled.

Maggy had went out to the hallway to wait and listen in by the door. She heard her mother's angry condescending tones switch to quiet soft spoken ones. Most of it she couldn't catch from the quick Korean spoken but she figured it sounded like bad news.

"박사님, 서울의 외과의사들로부터 소식을 들었습니까?" said Mrs. Kim. She never knew her mother to scream but could feel the tension build up. 

"예, 이것은 매우 위험한 절차입니다. 김 선생님, 제가 더 할 수 있는 일은 없습니다. 나는 이미 당신을 위한 재정 계획을 세웠습니다. 이것이 Maggy에게 가장 좋은 것입니다... said Dr. Park before sighing.

"절망합니다, 박사님. 나는 그녀가 그렇게 비어있는 것을 볼 수 없습니다." Mrs. Kim frowned, her voice sounding more concerned and hesitant.

"고생 끝에 낙이 온다" the Physician said.

Maggy rolled away when the chatter got quieter only catching her name being referenced. Instead of going back to the waiting room she rolled in the hallway and wondered how long she could hold a two wheel balance before falling. She leaned back holding out onto her wheels to her sides.

"1....2...3...." she lingered on to each number she spoke.

"Whoa! Haha!" Her chair wobbled over nearly falling back then forward, it centered for a while. Then held the balance for a few more stammering seconds.

"4...6.7.8.9.10....elevvv-....", She slipped falling back and hitting the linoleum floor with her head. She waited for her mom to finish talking to Dr. Park.

They had spoken for 15 more minutes...

Maggy was angry, when her mom came out running to pick her up. She didn't say a word and stiffened her body up until they got home. She wheeled over to her bedroom and slammed the door before cursing out to her mother.

"I hate you!" she screamed holding back tears.

Maggy grabbed the TV controller and put some anime on before unintentionally falling asleep in her chair.

Then the phone rang. A melodramatic theme of Hans Zimmer began from the ring tone. 

Swan girl groaned and waved her arm to tap the answering button on her phone. She laid on the floor moaning and rubbing her head where it hurt.

"Swan girl! Swan Girl, are you Okay?" Said Ho-Ming pigeon. We have another alert for an emergency happening a few blocks in Upper Manhattan. This time it's a vigilante much more evil and much more powerful than the Doctor". Swan girl turned to her foot and saw a rat that looked like a small lap dog nibbling on her boots.

"Ahh!!!" she screamed and kicked it away.

"I'm going to send you the coordinates to the warehouse pronto!"

"Can I get a minute..."

"Swan girl, this evil henchmen is on the prowl, he is known as the The Bronx Lord. And be careful Swan girl, he can make the ground shift on command with a slight of his hand. He's an elemental earth shifter... He shifts land?... Like... Earthquakes, he makes earthquakes, Swan girl".

"Ugh..."

"He's already toppled down several residential apartment complexes in the vicinity, Swan girl".

"Damn, bitch. I said give me a minute". Swan girl sluggishly got up and dusted her clothes.

"Where's the Doctor?"

"He's gone AWOL, Swan girl"

"Fine. I'll look for The Bronx Lord instead... Who even names these villains?"

"Uh, you did?"

Swan girl ran down a few blocks by the location her sidekick had given her and climbed up a building with a pink XXX neon sign to scope the premises. There she watched lonely men indulge in their feverish fantasies in parked cars and women indulging in the lonely men.

It had been an active night in NYC, nocturnal sounds of ambulance sirens and cars honking uninterruptedly filled the air. Swan girl waited and waited. 

Finally, the man who fit the description. Wearing all black, big brown timberland boots, puffy jacket with the fur on the hood. Pencil thin mustache, oh yes, The Bronx Lord was here.

She stealthily jumped from rooftop to rooftop trailing him behind until he lead her to a nearby apartment complex a few blocks away. He went in the building with his date giggling and clutching to his arm.

Swan girl had swung down quietly from a building and proceeded to run at top speed with a dignified posture, cold air brushing behind her hovering medium length hair. Her cape majestically gliding horizontally like the mane of a powerful steed...

"Ow. Shit. Fuck me.. I'm chafing. Oh yeah, I'm definitely chafing.".

After adjusting her wardrobe, Swan girl followed him to the 12th floor and waited a couple of minutes to watch where they went in. Swan girl held out her cane before kicking down the door of the apartment room. The menace was in a compromising position with his pants down laying on his back on the mattress.

"Aha! Got you, punk" she blurted out. The Bronx Lord had jumped out startled and quickly reached over to touch the wall with his hand starting to glow a bright red and vibrating.

"Fuck!" she screamed.

Swan girl immediately launched a briefcase she found by the bed towards his forehead knocking him out cold. His date had screamed and ran outside of the apartment exasperated and holding out her clothing.

Luckily, it was a quick and efficient take-down. Legend had it, The Bronx Lord could topple a building, evacuating the residents with his hand in a matter of seconds or 30 to 60 days depending on adjournment. Whatever that meant.

His reign was over in an instance, never to burden the neighborhoods any longer. Swan girl looked at the stash of cash that bloated out of the cracked open suitcase she had thrown at him and immediately felt proud.

She had never taken out a villain so quickly before and so effortlessly. She turned to a full-length mirror against the other side of the wall and stared at herself for a moment.

"Damn, you're a sexy mother fucker..." she whispered.

Then she heard the sounds of crinkling and popping. Unknowingly, the cash in the suitcase had caught fire from a couple of lit candles on the dresser. The suitcase quickly engulfed in the flames then the bedroom sheets and furniture too. Soon enough the entire room was in flames. Swan girl ran out to the hallways dragging the unconscious naked man while the neighbors watched in horror.

"Run, you fools!" Swan girl yelled. Then headed to the stairway and impaled the emergency glass with her cane. She quickly pulled the lever. She watched wide eyed as the fire grew stronger and more disruptive.

*****

Maggy jerked awake from the smell of charred plastic and wires. She noticed the heater she had left running and overheated creating a small fire by the outlet

"Oh shit, no no no...moms gonna kill me..."