The Night-Hawk - Series 1: 101: Taking Flight – Act 3
by Timan
so that was their plan. The vamps were gonna grab Penny, the last known slayer, drag her down to the warehouse and beat the snot out of her until she wasn’t living any more. The funny thing is that their plain had one floor in the shape of a small grey and black speckled bird winging its way back to the bar. This brings me back to my original point some of the most complex problems in the world can be solved by the simplest thing.

Meanwhile I had had a little too much scotch and had to . . . you know . . . which left Penny alone with her thoughts . . .


Penny sat silently at that table. From her pocket she pulled out her old, dusty, blood stained eye mask. She looked at it thoughtfully remembering times gone by. Absentmindedly she began to hum to herself which caught the attention of the bar owner Lorne. He was arguing with one of his bar staff about the quality of his sea breeze when the sound of Penny’s humming ticked his telepathic senses. He looked over to the slayer curiously. He walked over to her.

“Why so blue red?” he asked

Penny looked up at the well dressed demon curiously. She sighed and went back to looking at her mask

“I don’t know where to begin.”

Lorne took a seat and looked at it carefully.

“My advice, kitten, treat it like a song.”

Penny looked at him curiously. Lorne smiled at her

“You know start from the intro and work your way to the chorus.” He continued, “Let’s start with the fact that you’re the last slayer alive.”

Penny look shifted to shock. Slowly she looked down in shame.

“I failed everybody,” she said sadly, “I, like, should have paid more attention.”

“Oh heck no Penny-pie you played your part like anybody else. You’ve got a big future to look forward to.”

“Big future?”

“The whole is bigger then the sum of it’s parts baby cakes.”

Lorne looked down at the mask.

“What’s with the mask?” Lorne continued

Penny giggled.

“I used to think this was my lucky charm. I’d wear it and things were, like, better.”

“Well don’t worry sweetie your going to have reason to wear it again.”

Again penny looked at him curiously.

“What do you mean?” she asked

Lorne smiled at her.

“Nighthawk will fly again, the question is, are you going to be with her? Think about it.”

Penny absorbed the words as Lorne stood up. While he straightened his jacket something else crossed his mind

“Oh and one more thing,” Lorne said curiously, “I’m supposed to tell you to trust the bird do you have any idea what that means?”

“Yeah.” Penny replied

“Oh good for a minute there I though I was going crazy.”

That moment the wanderer returned. He dropped down some money and tapped Penny on the shoulder.

“Come on we better go,” he said, “We better try and find Hope.”

Penny nodded and got to her feet and slipped on the long jacket. They left the club quickly and started to walk down the street. It wasn’t long before they were being followed.

“Does she do this often?” penny asked

“She’s never away this long unless it’s important.” the wanderer replied

The five men behind them morphed their faces as they slowly caught up to the both or them. In a nearby tree a bird sang sweetly to it’s self. Snarling quietly the vamps picked up speed and pounced.

“Now!” Penny yelled

Moving swiftly Penny kicked back sending the first vamp flying into the others. Both the wander and the slayer turned to face their stalkers

“You know it’s, like, rude to follow people with out them knowing.” Penny said

Slowly the vamps colleted themselves off the ground. During this time Penny looked down at the mask in her hand. She put it on. The wanderer looked at her curiously

“What are you doing?” he asked

“It’s my lucky charm,” Nighthawk replied

By this stage the vamps climbed back onto their feet. Confidently Nighthawk strode up to them, drew her sword, and decapitated the first vamp she reached. His head exploded into dust before he hit the ground. Not wasting a moment she smacked the second with the hilt of the sword and spun kick the third into a wall. The forth one tried to sneak up behind the slayer but The Wanderer stepped in punching him in the face twice. Forcing the second vamp back onto the ground Nighthawk brought her sword down on his neck. As he exploded into dust she noticed the remaining two vamps were making a move on The Wanderer. At full slayer speed Nighthawk shot up and pulled the first off The Wanderer by the hair. She elbowed him in the face followed by a kick to the stomach. Spinning her sword around quickly she severed his head before he could recover.

Nighthawk looked over to see the wanderer pinning one to the wall. Although he doesn’t have half her strength years of experience had made him proficient.

“Hey penny, come here. This one seems chatty.” The Wanderer said

Nighthawk walked over to the vampire, who was laughing at her.

“What’s so funny?” she asked

“You,” the vampire replied, “how pathetic you are without the rest of your army. You think you’re hot stuff because you slayers took out the Trinity but let me tell you . . .”

The vampire leaned closer to Nighthawk.

“. . . My master Tokan shall rid this world or you and your kind! He will spread across this world like a cleansing wind ridding the earth of the plague known as humanity. My master’s word will be law and he . . .”

Nighthawk and The Wanderer shared a look. Having enough of this vampire’s ramblings Nighthawk walked over to the nearest tree, snapped off a branch, returned and staked him.

“Never was a big fan of the talkers.” She replied

“What do you suppose that was about?” The Wanderer asked

Just then hope flew down from the tree she was sitting in and landed on the wall. She began to chirp quickly.

“Whoa, Whoa slow down,” Nighthawk said, “The vampires are doing what where?”

The Night-Hawk repeated her chirping.

“Sporting goods warehouse doing what?” The Wanderer asked

Hope continued chirping. Nighthawk looked at the bird in concern.

“Do you know where it is?” she asked

The bird chirped some more. Nighthawk looked over at The Wanderer.

“We better get moving.” she said

The Wanderer looked confused

“I only know a little about vamps,” he replied, “what does she mean by mass siring?”

“Do you want the long version or the short version?”

“For the sake of time I’ll go for the short.”

“It’s the end of the world.”

“Oh,” The Wanderer replied, “I was expecting something bad. If we’re gonna deal with vamps I need to make a pit stop first.”


~ The sporting goods warehouse – 15 minutes later ~


The Night-Hawk flew in through a small window and landed on the edge of the mezzanine level of the warehouse. From behind some boxes Nighthawk and The Wanderer stepped out and joined her. They kept to the shadows and watched the vampires prepare for the mass siring. Doing a rough head count the numbers were severely against them.

“That’s a lot of vampires.” The Wanderer commented lightly

“You noticed that to huh?” Nighthawk replied

“You got a plan?”

“Aside from ‘not die’ I haven’t thought of anything yet.”

The Wanderer looked over to the masked girl and smirked.

“Lucky one of us was thinking.” He replied smugly

He gestured that they move away from the ledge. The both of them walked quickly behind some boxes. From the bag The Wanderer was carrying he pulled out a number of glass bottles some rags and a can of gasoline.”

“What are you doing?” she asked

“Ever heard of a Molotov cocktail?” he replied preparing the petrol bombs, “what I do know about vamps is that they’re not big fans of fire so I figure we both stick to what we do best.”

Nighthawk looked at the old man curiously. He held up the first completed Molotov cocktail proudly.

“You stake, I’ll torch.”

Although concerned Nighthawk didn’t argue. She was about to go find a stake when The Wanderer stopped her. He looked at her seriously

“Before you go out there you need to do something first.” he said

“What?” she asked

Just then hope flew over some boxes. She landed on Nighthawk’s lap and looked up at her expectantly. The Wanderer smiled

“You’re gonna have to make the connection.”

“Make the what?”

“To work with the Night-Hawk you have to be part of the Night-Hawk and the Night-Hawk has to be part of you.”

Nighthawk had no idea what the old man was saying. The Wanderer placed a caring hand on her shoulder.

“The whole is bigger then the sum of it’s parts Penny.” He said

This caught her by surprise. That was the exact phrase Lorne said to her back at Karatos. Something very strange was going on.

“How do I do that?” Nighthawk asked

“Trust the bird,” The Wanderer replied, “she will guide you.”

This was the second thing Lorne said to her. As much as this didn’t make any sense she felt it was the right thing to do. Nighthawk nodded and the wanderer smiled at her.

“That’s my girl,” he said proudly, “I need to go set up.”

The Wanderer moved to a different part of the level leaving Nighthawk alone with Hope. Anxiously Nighthawk looked down at the small bird on her lap.

“Okay Hope whatever you have to do go ahead and do It.” she said

For a short moment they stared at each other. Just before Nighthawk was about to give up she felt it . . .

The connection . . .

It was small at first residing around the pit of her stomach but soon it filled her. She felt the presence of the small bird more then she did a few minutes. It was an interesting sensation for Nighthawk. All of a sudden she felt like she was part of something bigger, something more powerful. Nighthawk smiled at the small bird.

Quickly, after moving hope to her shoulder, Nighthawk got to her feet and rummaged through some of the boxes to find something to use as a stake. She knew that a sword can only get you so far in a large vamp fight. Searching through one of the longer boxes Nighthawk found something even better then what she was looking for. It was an archery set. Back in high school Penny was extremely proficient at archery. Her coach had plans to take her all the way if it wasn’t for the fact a week later she was called as a slayer.

Nighthawk filled the quiver with arrows and slung it over her back. She picked up the bow and tested the strings tension. Being brand new it was perfect for the task. The slayer moved up to the edge of the level and looked down. A bit further down The Wanderer sat ready as well. They nodded to each other and waited for their moment.

“My brethren the hour is neigh,” Tokan announced dramatically, “Tonight we feast and our numbers shall grow.”

The vamps cheered but there was one who looked at the others concerned.

“But what of the slayer master?” he asked, “The other’s haven’t returned.”

“The slayer is on no consequence now. By the time she realizes what we are doing we will outnumber her exponentially.”

Once again the vamps cheer.

“To celebrate this momentous occasion I will allow one of you to be the first.” Tokan continued

From behind the curtain that was set up behind Tokan a frightened woman was dragged out by a pair of vamps. She pleaded with the ancient vampire to let her go but her plight fell on deaf ears. Nighthawk and The Wanderer looked at each other in concern. This was going to complicate matters. From out of the crowd Tokan chose a tall mean looking vamp. He strode up onto the stage and snarled at the woman. As he took her from the two vamps restraining her Nighthawk lifted her bow and loaded her first arrow. The vamp moved behind the woman blocking any heart shot but Nighthawk had another idea.

The vamp bared his teeth and moved in for the bite. Just then an arrow shot through the air and pierced the vampire’s foot. He screamed in pain, tossing the woman aside, and looked around wildly to see who shot him. That’s when he noticed Nighthawk on the mezzanine level.

“Slayer!” he yelled as he pointed to her.

Nighthawk fired a second arrow and the huge vamp exploded into dust. Giving the Wanderer one last look she flipped down from level. The fight was on. Nighthawk pushed back three vamps then, using her slayer speed she dusted two of them by loading two arrows at the same time. She dodged a third vamp and countered by punching him in the head. On the stage three of the vamps grab the scared woman and prepare to feed. Seeing this Nighthawk knocked out the vamp standing in front of her and charged at the stage. She jumped to doge a vamp trying to tackle her and something strange happened.

Nighthawk sailed up about 15 to 20 feet in the air. She couldn’t explain it but she felt lighter then usual. A moment later Nighthawk landed on the stage then kicked the first vamp off the woman. The other two look at each other then toss the woman aside and went for the slayer. Quickly drawing another arrow she stakes the first advancing vamp, loads the bow, fires dusting the second. From the sideline Nighthawk heard slow clapping.

She turned to see Tokan slowly walking up to her.

“I have to admire your tenaciousness slayer,” he said, “not many would hand themselves over so willingly.”

“Don’t count me out just yet.” Nighthawk replied

“You obviously haven’t seen the full picture. There is only one of you and countless numbers of us any way you look at it the odds are in our favor.”

Nighthawk looked around the angry crowd. When she turned back Tokan was standing right next to her. Slowly he stroked her face.

“You are an endangered species slayer, the last of your kind; it’s time for your species to end.”

Nighthawk slowly looked up to the ancient vampire.

“You first.” she replied

Tokan snarled and grabbed her by the throat.

“What makes you think you will survive? You can not beet all of us alone.”

A sly smile crossed her face.

“Not alone.” Nighthawk replied

The Wanderer lit the first Molotov cocktail and launched it at the crowd. It exploded igniting several of the vamps in the vicinity. Nighthawk used the distraction to kick Tokan in the chest. The ancient vamp stumbled back releasing the slayer from his grip. She punched across the jaw and, keeping up her momentum, elbowed him in the side of the head. Nighthawk side kicks him in the chest and Tokan slammed hard against a support pole. Tokan watched as his entire force was being cooked by the petrol bomb raining down from the upper level. Angrily he turned back to Nighthawk.

“You might have won this battle but the war is far from over,” he snarled, “slayer!”

Nighthawk, bow ready, smiled smugly at him

“No,” she replied, “Nighthawk.”

She fired striking him in the chest. Tokan had enough time to glare angrily at her before he burst into dust. Nighthawk breathed a sigh of relief as The Wanderer joined her.

“Think we better be leaving now.” he said insistently.

Nighthawk looked around at the burning building. At the other end of the stage the vamps victim lay unconscious.

“Get her, I’ll make a way out.” She replied

Hope landed on Nighthawk shoulder as she made for the sidewall. She kicked using her full slayer strength and the thin steel wall gave away easily. The Wanderer and The Slayer ran from the building just before it was engulfed in flames.


From a distance Nighthawk and The Wanderer watched as the fire department extinguished the flames.

”That was good work in there Penny.” He said

Nighthawk nodded.

“We work well as a team don’t you think?” The Wanderer continued

She turned and smiled at him.

“Yeah, I think so.” she replied

The old man turned to her looking at her seriously.

“There are a lot of people out there that need help who could use your skills.”

Nighthawk looked around anxiously

“I don’t know.”

“This is not a burden Penny this is an opportunity,” The Wanderer replied, “This doesn’t mean we have to stop looking for any survivors of the Trinity battle. If their out there we’ll find them.”

Nighthawk looked the area. Suddenly she caught her reflection in a window of a near by building. For the first time she noticed how she looked. With the black outfit The Wanderer bought her, the long back jacket, the mask and the weapons Nighthawk finally, accidentally, became what she wanted to be. Hope landed on The Wanderer shoulder as she looked at the both of them.

“Okay,” Nighthawk replied, “I’ll do it.”


And that’s how it started. For the next two years Penny and hope helped many people and saved many lives. She took her old nickname from a title to an identity using various contacts I had built through out the years to craft her look. Doing this she found a strange peace that she hadn’t felt in a while. From what I saw in the masked champion she had finally found her center again. Soon after that a rumble stirred in the demon community about her activity. They heard that for every problem they caused problem would find them three fold. Because every time danger is sensed . . .

That’s when the Nighthawk will fly . . .

But the story doesn’t here you see. There was another stir through the demon community. See, for every little red riding hood there was a big bad wolf and this wolf had a name.

The Chamber


~ Unknown location – Present day ~

The room was dark. The only light came from three down light which hung over the horse shoe shaped table that sat in the center of the room. Sitting at the table sat four demons of different shapes and sizes. They were grumbling amongst themselves until an enigmatic demon called for silence. He stood in the center of the horse shoe and looked each demon seriously. The demon, Rorgia, readied himself for the speech he was about to give.

“Wolfram and Hart is gone,” he started, “and with it most of our resources. What once was glorious is now left in ruins and our kind is forced to hide and scrounge for food like rats. The Trinity killer, this Divine One, has stolen our livelihood and I say it’s time we get it back.”

The demons looked at each other in a combination of hesitation and confusion.

“What are you proposing?” one of them asked

Rorgia smiled at them, his red skin wrinkling. He took a few steps forward for dramatic effect.

“I am suggesting that we stop fighting amongst ourselves and start fighting our true enemy,” he replied, “These humans have been in control of this world for too long. It is time they’re put in their place.”

“How are we going to do that?” asked another

“By forming an organization that will be more powerful then Wolfram and Hart ever was.”

Rorgia paced across the length of the table.

“I call all of you here today because you four are the best and the brightest. Separate we just flounder around waiting for the next opportunity but together we will be a force to be reckoned with.”

Rorgia felt the crowds nerves begin to ease. He smiled slyly.

“What is your plan?” the first demon asked

“Simple,” he replied, “We use this town as a launching pad. We integrate ourselves into every level of society and slowly gain control of the city. Phoenix will not know what hit it.”

The demons were satisfied they applauded Rorgia for his forward thinking and pledged their support. Rorgia thanked the and they got down to work. They might be small now but that will quickly change.

Soon everybody will know the name of ‘The chamber’


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