So, this is it the first night. When it all begins. Man, I’ll tell you there’s nothing like it. I’ve seen Toby, Andrew, Tom, and Christian do it on the big screen but nothing compares to actually taking that first leap. If fact Jean kept having to slap me upside the head for half the day because I was bouncing off the walls, I was so giddy with excitement. Speaking of it wasn’t a surprise Jean insisted that she would be doing the hero gig with me, at least for the first few weeks, then later when she could. She really wants to finish her degree so she can help regular people and heroes in ways other than just using her powers. I admit this was part of my overall “phoenix plan”, a bit of ‘physician heal thy self’, but I figured if she had to study about hoe to help people with multiple and repressed personalities it would help her deal with her own situation better. Oh, by the way, did I tell you about her suit? Since we’re stuck with onesies until I finish working out the kinks with the unstable molecules, we decided to go with the look from the ’90s and the show. Except replace the yellow with dark green, the blue parts with black, keep the X symbol and throw in a domino mask and you have one seriously hot crime fighter.

But back to that first night. . . . It was a none stop adrenalin rush the whole night, especially since we were cheating with Jean’s empathic powers to keep finding trouble so there really wasn’t any downtime. We decided to start our patrols in Tribeca down by the docks and work in a counter-clockwise route for the first few days but I planned to focus on Harlem so that the people and police in the area would at least be able to recognize us when H-day arrived. We had a whole system for how takedowns went. We had cameras on our suits and two mini drones that the computer back at HQ controlled, so we would capture video of the bad guy actually doing bad things before we would come in and save the day. Which by the way was super easy against regular humans. They couldn’t break out of our TK like supers could so after one quick stun they were ready for the zip ties and a call to the police. After cleaning up the scene we would leave a card for the police that had the web address of a black site where they could download footage of the crime in progress and our takedown with a temporary password. Good luck to anybody trying to trace our servers. I still have no idea exactly how our computer works.

The crime rate in a comic book world is way different than in our world. I mean really, how many times can the same bank get robbed in one month? If I didn’t know any better, I would swear someone was just randomly generating mobs just for us like a video game. During the weeks leading up to H-day, we dealt with everything from cats in trees to 5 alarm fires but no super fights yet it was all street-level stuff. But our heroics were steadily getting noticed, building up to the point that even J Jonah Jameson was starting to make grumblings about our identity and declaring us a menace. Unfortunately for him, he couldn’t really bash us as he would later Spiderman because we had video to backup all our deeds. Plus, we were very giving to our fans. We didn’t mind taking (real) pictures with our fans or giving autographs. (Selfies aren’t a thing yet.) Also like I said we have a website that clearly listed who we are and what our goals are. We even answered some questions about ourselves on the message board. Which was way more than Ironman and the FF were doing, the only publicly known heroes so far.

Yeah sorry, I forgot to mention the Fantastic Four to you guys. Maybe because subconsciously I was afraid, to look them up and see the fan4stic group but luckily, they were the Jessica Alba group, so now I really can’t wait to see what happens when Johnny meets Cap for the first time. Anyway, Tony could care less how he looked in the press and I don’t think it even occurred to Reed that they needed to have good PR. I think the fact that they were hardly even on earth most of the time probably had a lot to do with that. But I, on the other hand, had big plans that I will freely admit I stole from one of the fanfics I used to read back in my world. (Hope it’s still going.) I wanted to use modern social media tactics to head off the whole mutant hating thing by rebranding them Metahumans. Hey, it worked for DC, plus it doesn’t have any of the negative connotations that the name Mutant has. So far, it’s going great and the news reporters are even starting to use it. We even set up a hotline on the website that Metas could call if they need help or just wanted someone to talk to. It got so much use that even after verifying the calls that we had to turn that part over to the Professor and the X-men. Another part of my plan was to work with Charles on a big PR push to announce the X-men coming out as an official/legal meta team of heroes at some point. But the real reason I doing all this so that I didn’t come home one night and find a tall one-eyed black man in my living room waiting to ask me a bunch of questions. I wanted to be loud and easily trackable or at least predictable so he wouldn’t think we were a big threat or hiding something. Since we are constantly seen doing good, I hoped it could buy us some time. I planned on talking to him sometime during Ironman 2 anyway.

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Alright, enough stalling. You just want to know what happened on H-day dont cha? Well, to be honest, we almost missed the whole thing cause Hammerhead and Tombstone decided that this particular night was just perfect for a gang fight. Their timing sucked us but I did end up taking a huge weight off my chest. To understand we gotta go back to that day…..

I had the computer monitoring the net and the news outlets for any strange happenings at Culver University and that mini-war went down a day ago so I knew that today would be the day. We had a good plan for taking everybody down without a lot of destruction; I would cloak myself in Dr. Sterns's lab and protect him from Blonsky preventing him from becoming the Leader and Blonsky the Abomination in the first place. (Also, I wanted to get a sample of Bruce’s blood) Meanwhile, Jean would follow Bruce and Betty back to the military base and scoop them up when they got off the helicopter. She would then explain to them what was going on while she waited for me to catch up and then we would take them to hide out at the X-mansion for a while. Simple if it goes as planned. But you know the old saying no plan survives contact with the enemy.

So, by now you’re probably wondering if that was the plan why we were patrolling Harlem so much before and getting the lay of the land and all that if the plan was to stop Abomination before he even started? Well, I’m ashamed to say that for a while I was actually going to let things play out and let Blonsky become Abomination despite all the damage and destruction I knew he would cause. I fell for the thing most OP characters fall for eventually. I let my powers and how easy all this was going to my head and forgot that this isn’t some story and my real life now and all those people that could die are real people with real lives. For a minute there I honestly saw those people as just some randos or NPCs that didn’t matter because they weren’t real to me the “Big time MC of the universe.” I don’t know what the Frack I was thinking the people come first always and this was not a movie no matter how it feels sometimes. The only problem is that this philosophy is really going to screw me latter if I try to keep every bad thing from ever happening. Eventually the timeline is going to get so screwed up all my information will be useless. After this I would need to come up with a compromise that didn’t jeopardize my morals. I need to find the line between saving people and changing everything.

So, with that drama out of the way back to the story. We spent the day hanging out on the Grayburn campus in the quad waiting for things to kick off because I wasn’t sure of the exact timing of things. I just knew that the army didn’t show up till around dusk. Unfortunately, like I said before all of that planning and fretting went out the window when the computer alerted us to and A.P.B. about a gang shootout between Tombstone and Hammerhead’s crews. “So, what do we do Nico? It sounds like the police are getting pounded.” Jean had a look of worry on her face. “We go help and pray to Sta… I mean God that we get back in time to stop Blonsky.” Jean still looked worried. “What if we split up and one of us stays here?” “Umm… I thought about that but it would be faster if we both go. Hammerhead is not that tuff but Tombstone is like a mini Abomination himself so if our plans work on him it should work on Abomination too.” “Let’s go!” We quickly ducked into an alley to change and took off.

We arrived to a war zone. There was a three-way shootout going on between the two crews and the police. Tombstone’s crew was on the left side of a four-way stop while Hammerhead was on the right. The Police were pinned down to the south and there was a big pileup blocking the north street and part of the east. Thankfully there were no fires yet but we could see people hiding and ducking for cover in the pileup. “Phoenix you go for the civilians and then any runners. I’ll do a shock and awe before I grab all the guns.” “Got it.” Phoenix went to save the few civilians that were trapped by the crossfire while I started building up a massive fireball above everybody’s head. It looked like a miniature sun suddenly appeared above their heads. Well, they thought it was real but really it was mostly just a light show to set up a distraction for Phoenix. Predictably the goons started freaking out when they saw a gigantic fireball hovering above there heads. They stop shooting and started panicking. This gave Phoenix enough time to save the few civilians that were trapped in the crossfire and for me to use electromagnetism to grab up all the goon’s guns. That’s when they realize they were really screwed and the smart ones started to rabbit. I threw the guns in a pile behind the police and erected a TK barrier to keep the goons for getting far. I’ll tell you there is nothing funnier than seeing a grown man running full speed into an invisible wall.

Phoenix did the same on the other side and used her TK to start rounding the goons up. Once they were all grouped together, I used a low powered chain lighting to knock them all out except for…, you guessed it the two bosses. I think Hammerhead managed to block the lighting with his head while Tombstone didn’t even feel it. “Nighthawk I got Hammerhead you go take Tombstone.” “Copy that.” It didn’t matter to me who took down who but I was curious as to how she would do it. I ended up being in awe of how easy she made it look. Before Hammerhead could even get his supervillain, monologue going Phoenix grabbed him up with TK and started spinning him around like a top. He was so dizzy and wasted when she put him down that all he could do was lay on the ground and puke his guts out. Phoenix then TK pulled a bunch of handcuffs from the cops to hogtie him and added a mental strike just to put him out of his misery. When the cops approached, she warned them that he could easily break out of the cuffs when he woke up if they weren’t careful. Most of them were grateful for the assist but some were still looking at her fearfully.

My fight on hand was a little different. I knew Tombstone was light-sensitive so I started off with a flash bomb and followed up with a sonic blast that would keep him off-balance. I gotta give him some credit though, he could barely see straight let alone stand up straight but still, he threw punches, trying to take me out. As funny as it was to watch him flail and fumble around, we needed to wrap this up and get back to the school. So, I implemented the plan we had for Abomination or the Hulk if he went on a rampage. Which was really simple in explanation but hard for most in the MCU+ to do. I choked him out by forming a TK shield around his head and waited until he passed out. Simple right but the key for this to even work is to make sure that whoever you try this on is already disoriented before you start or your going to have a really bad day. Once he was down, I realized that cuffs for supers needed to be next on my to-do list but for now I just used two light poles to wrap him up for the cops. After a quick check of the scene to make sure everything was good, Phoenix and I raced back to the school. When we got there, there was a big hole gaping in the side of Dr. Sterns's lab. We were too late.

As we rushed in, we saw soldiers scattered across the lab and Dr. Stern crumpled up against a lab counter. “We were too late!” Phoenix looked devastated as she saw the destruction that went on in the lab. “Phoenix check on those guys over there and if they are still alive bring them over and I’ll do what I can for them.” Meanwhile, I went to check on Dr. Stern. When I got over there, it looked like he was still alive and just starting to turn. So I pulled him away from Banner’s blood and then checked him for injuries. He had a couple broken ribs and some bruises but he would live. “Hawk here’s the first one and I got two more but the rest didn’t make it.” She was really sad. “I understand. Put her down right here and were in triage mode from here on out, and we need to get a move on. You can hear him wrecking the streets from here.” She nodded her head and went off to get the next soldier. I looked down at my first patient and remembered this lady. She was acting as Ross’s right-hand man in the movie. Boy was she a mess, fractures all over her midsection, a broken leg, and what looks like bleeding in the head. All of these injuries and still she was a lucky one judging by the condition of the ones that didn’t make it. “Phoenix do me a favor when you’re done, grab all the blood samples labeled Mr. Green and destroy the rest and all of the computers. I don’t want the government trying to play God again. You can stash the blood at the spot and then go work the crowd while I finish up here. And please don’t take him on till I get there to help, just minimize the damage and help the people.” “Got it.” She nodded and got back to work. I used my BioK to heal all the soldiers to the point where they would be stable until they could get to a hospital. Finally I gave the room a good look and headed out.

When you’re watching the movie, you see the damage been done but you don’t really see the whole picture. You should thank the director for that cause if you saw what I’m seeing right now you would either be throwing up or heartbroken. I’m not going to go into details on all the horrors I saw but I will say that there were kids out tonight. I quickly scanned the streets and did quick heals on the critically damage and pulled out anyone that was trapped but I was in a hurry to catch up with Phoenix and stop this monster. After I was done and catching up I saw Phoenix throwing fireballs at Abomination to distract him from continuing his attack on the people but what she was doing was just pissing him off more so he picked up a truck and threw it at her. For some fracking reason, the army guys decided that this was the perfect time to ram him with there car. Well, you saw how that worked out for them. Luckily this time I was here to catch them before they went splat. I was already pissed off so after setting down the car I froze him in place with 5x earth’s gravity while I charged at him. This didn’t really stop him as so much slow his movements down to a crawl. As I was charging at him, I reinforced my right fist with concrete and hit him with an uppercut with the force of 4 tons. At the same time I released the gravity hold and watched as Abomination when rolling down the street.

Phoenix came flying in next to me. “How’d you do that?” I gave her a quick smile. “I told you needed to work on your gravity control more. That’s why you always lost to me and sis when we raced. Anyway, what have you tried on him so far?” She shrugged while saying. “Well I tried to get in his head and put him to sleep but there was nothing in there but chaos and tons of anger. I had to get out quick.” “That’s under…..” At that moment I heard something whistling above us and looked up to see Bruce doing his swan dive. Phoenix looked up also to see what I was looking at and gasped. “Looks like break times over. Abomination is getting back up too so I need you to go and catch the idiot before the other guy shows up.” Phoenix was still pouting about my gravity comment but still flew off to catch Bruce while I took off after Abomination. He saw me coming and cocked back to punch me but when I was still 5 feet away, I hit him with a continuous sonic blast which seriously disoriented him and when I got close enough, I started laying into him with my concrete hands. He didn’t stand a chance. I kept punching him until the concrete crumbled and finally, he crumpled to the ground.

Now that he was down Phoenix and Bruce walked over. I dusted off my hands and held it out for Bruce. “Dr. Banner, Nighthawk, I’m a big fan of your work in physics and I also like how you turn into a green hulking rage monster.” He gave me a wan smile. “Thank you for…” He points around. “All of this? It could have been a lot worse.” “Dr. you have no idea. Look I know you’ve been looking for a cure and I happen to know some non-military types that can help you out. They have a lab and everything, plus I think as soon as Ross can find a land pad he’ll be back to cause all kinds of trouble.” “That sounds good. Almost too good actually. How do I know you won't turn out Sterns did?” He looked at me with suspicion. While I rolled my eyes and Phoenix giggled. Now he starts to think about the consequences? “Well for one my meta powers are way better than the super solider serum so I don’t need it. Ok that’s a little fib. Two, the place I’m taking you to is full of people that would be less than thrill and high upset with the government knocking on their door.” “Ok but what about Betty?” “I can guarantee they are going to be watching her closely now and probably for the rest of her life in some way. So, what I can do is give her a choice of joining you at some point but it won't be soon unless her life’s in danger.” “I… I can accept that. What now though?” “Well me and Phoenix are going to do S&R and cleanup until SHIELD gets here. You can help out where you can and I’ll change the way you look gradually while you do.” “WHAT???” “Chill dude it’s not permanent, just an illusion.” “Oh ok.” I looked over to Phoenix who was trying her best not to outright laugh. “Ok chuckles let’s get to work.” She gave me a wave as she flew out still chuckling.

I won’t say lives weren’t lost that night but at least it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. I learned a lot that night about my self and the way this world works. It feels like a Saturday morning cartoon sometimes but I got to remember it’s deadly real. There’s no real MC pot armor to protect me and I or my loved ones could really die. Resurrections or retcons could not be a thing here. All of this has me really worried about Mr. Shadow. Not only did he know how I would have built my base eventually but the fact that he gave me so much all at once is troubling at the least. Whatever he has for me is big and coming soon I can feel it. The problem is I don’t think I’m ready. Things should settle down after Ironman 2 and I think after I train for a couple of months, I’ll go see the Potter heads. But for now, Tony’s birthday is in a few days so a trip to Cali is in order and maybe I’ll swing by New Mexico on the way back.