The Fate of Mr. Pacific (Night Hawks)

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Steel City
Mr. Pacific walked into the Steel City Aquarium. For a few months now, this place had been inaccessible to anyone who wanted to live. Shivering Jemmy and her Shadow Hand had set up base here to wage war on the world.

He adjusted his mask with the sunglasses under it. Although he was wearing his costume, he wasn’t planning on fighting. You couldn’t fight these people and hope to win. There was only one thing Pacific could do if he wanted his family kept safe.

“I’ve been wondering when you were going to show up,” Jemmy said. She was sitting on a large chair that was much too big for her. Her blue eyes met Pacific’s. He couldn’t help but think that she looked a lot like his sister, Sarah. But she wasn’t. Pacific was certain that Jemmy wasn’t even human. She was some sort of monster that masqueraded as a little girl. “You’re here for your family,” Jemmy continued. “Don’t worry, they’re all safe. I’m sure you know what’s needed to free them.”

“Yes,” Pacific said. “If you let my family go, I will become your servant.”

“Well said. That’s all I need, really.” Jemmy clapped and the Fisher family appeared. John, Jane, and Sarah Fisher.

“Mercutio? What’s going on?” Pacific’s cute little sister asked. “Are you here to play with us and Jemmy?”

Anger burned inside Pacific. Jemmy had the gall to play with his family? As if she was a friend and not their captor? But he couldn’t let Sarah see this anger. If she didn’t know who Jemmy really was, then she was better off. “I have to talk to Jemmy alone. You need to go home now.”

“Okay, I’ll see you later, Pacific,” Sarah said. “I’ve really missed you, brother.”

That’s right. After today, Pacific would never see his sister again. It hurt him to think of such things, but at least she was free. At least Sarah was safe.

“Now then,” Jemmy said. “I have let your family go free, and in return you shall serve me as my minion. These are the terms of our contract.” Jemmy’s eyes glowed orange for a moment.

Pacific felt some invisible hand rip the free will out of his heart. He was now Jemmy’s slave, and would have to do everything she said. It was a horrible, hopeless feeling.

But that feeling triggered something. Deep within the recesses of Pacific’s mind, information that had been locked away was suddenly opening up. He remembered something that shattered his very view of the world.

He wasn’t Mr. Pacific. His name was Tom Walsh. He was a government agent. Only recently had he been brainwashed to think that he was Mr. Pacific. Why was that? He searched deeper. His eyes opened wide. He had a disease, a terminal disease. He had a few days to live, if even that, and he had volunteered for a suicide mission to make his short life worth something. Well, he had succeeded. Wherever the real Mr. Pacific was, he was still free from Jemmy’s grasp. The Fisher family had been set free as well. Tom decided that he had done well. He had saved 4 lives today, and now he could die in peace.

Tom closed his eyes and fell to the ground, dead.

_________________
Jump City
Meanwhile, in Jump City, the real Mr. Pacific received confirmation that his family had been set free. Good. It was a huge relief.

“You will remember your part of the agreement,” said the voice on the other side of the phone call.

“Of course,” Pacific said. “I am very grateful. I will be there very soon. There are just a few last things that need to be finished.” He hung up.

Pacific pulled out a small pill from his belt and swallowed it. Alright. Time to put on a show. He walked towards the Nest. It was time to tell the Night Hawks what was about to happen. There it was. The Nest was just in the distance, a few hundred yards away. Pacific sighed.

“Hey.”

What? Who was that? Pacific turned around. He saw a man in jeans and a leather jacket. “Yes?”

“We have some unfinished business.” The man stabbed Pacific in the stomach with a knife. Blood gushed out from the cut as Mr. Pacific crumpled and fell to the ground. He was feeling weak. It was difficult to keep his eyes open. This was it. Mr. Pacific was dying.

The man with the knife had disappeared in a hurry. Nobody watching would be able to catch him. Pacific looked up with the small amount of strength that he still had. He saw a girl in black wearing a motorcycle helmet. “You there, please listen to me…”

Guest

The moment had come. Her soldier had fallen, gravity had pinned him to the Terran landscape, the assailant had left her vessel back to heaven in easy, plain, defenseless sight. Defenseless against an angel. Mr. Pacific was dying right on time, just like the Higher Power had fated before the fifteen year old boy had been brought into mortality.

"Y--yes?"

The reply was whispered... eagerly, from this fallen Valkyrie whose holy task to guide a fallen warrior's soul to a high seat in heaven's sanctuary had been failed not once, but twice. For seven hundred-forty years, Lucretia J. Faulkner had been destined for these few fleeting minutes. She had waited over seven centuries, just shy of the eighth century during which her immortality granted by Him would finally be imprisoned in a useless, terrible, blood-dependent, ordinary human being. But, lo! This was the End that would be the beginning of exaltation on High! Finally, a new dawn after ages of too many nights. If Kree had eyes, they would have turned to seas of salty jubilation. The speculation that the headless young woman was being cruel and emotionally immovable was certainly in question, but after wallowing in the evils, wars, and the ages where seeds of heretics were grown as often as a good soul perished reassured Black Valkyrie that this was all for the better; Mr. Pacific's death was a blessing! He was privileged to die so soon compared to many others; this way, he didn't gain the years of darkness that could have plagued him even more than what had already been inflicted upon his innocence!

The Black Valkyrie tip-toed toward Mr. Pacific, almost gliding as if shuffling on clouds. For this event, Kree had donned a marbled-white motorcycle helmet with golden wings that seemed to sprout from the sides much alike unto the crown that the mighty God of Thunder, Thor, was told to have. There was a small, hardly noticeable engraving on the plexiglass face-shield, directly in an eye's field of vision that read, "Adveniat regnum tuum." "Thy kingdom come." Kneeling beside the fading lad, Lucretia pulled off one of her black leather gloves to reveal a hand--one of flesh, bone, and blood; a reminder that she was becoming only human--and gently removed his helmet, letting the air breathe clarity into his mind. She ran her fingers through the young man's blonde tresses, soothing him and letting him know that she was an ally, not a spectre of death. The instant that the Black Valkyrie had grasped Mr. Pacific's helmet, she knew who he was, where he had been born, raised, and who his family was. Most of all, however, was the information that he had been a good soul. A relief, Kree thought silently; although warriors may fight in wars, there are always soldiers who fight wars against the Powers of Benevolence. His name:

"Linus Mercutio Fisher..."

An electronically transmitted thought-to-sound out-putter allowed voice to be heard despite the absence of a physical mouth,

"I am a vessel of a Higher Power, a Valkyrie to guide your warrior's spirit to paradise, although I serve no singular being. You have fought well, and for that you shall be rewarded. You must know, I am not allowed to help you. I cannot heal your wounds, nor can I commission another to do so. You will die today. This, I promise. Death... is only the Beginning. Remember that, but first, state your wishes; I am also tasked to execute your will after Heaven has received you. So, 'Mr. Pacific,'"

Black Valkyrie ended,

"What is it in this life that you want most, knowing that it will only be granted once you are relieved of your own?"

Guest

OOC: Dibs on the first Night Hawks post! After Dar and Honest of course.

Guest

Pacific wasn't expecting this. An ambassador from a higher power? Was this the Angel of Death? No, she was a Valkyrie. For a moment, Pacific was worried, but then he suddenly smiled. Even as he was losing consciousness, he couldn't help but think that this was funny. He had gotten the attention of a Valkyrie? It was more than he could have ever hoped for. This was perfect.

She was his Valkyrie. Knowing that gave Pacific great relief.

Yes, Mr. Pacific would die today. What had she just said? She would execute his will after death? So, she was basically granting him a wish? There were so many wishes he would have instantly chosen had circumstances been happier, but there was something important right now.

Originally, Pacific was planning on disbanding the Night Hawks. There was no way they could stand up against the wrath of Jemmy and her Shadow Hand. However, with a Valkyrie, everything changed.

"I lead a team, a small band of warriors called the Night Hawks. We fight to defend this city and the world from evil. But now a much stronger enemy force known as Shadow Hand will threaten the Hawks. My final wish, my command to you, is to protect my friends. Protect the Night Hawks!"

This was a good turn of events. When the world was sitting on such a turning point, it was good to have a new ally. Pacific smiled.

"I'll see you soon again, my love."

Pacific's eyes closed. His breath ceased and his heart stopped beating. An ambulance pulled up to the bloody scene and put his body on a stretcher. One medic took his pulse and shook his head. "He's gone," he said to the crowd that had assembled. "He's lost too much blood."

Police had also arrived on scene and were questioning people for information. Nobody knew who had done this, although a few teenagers said they saw someone running away. No description was given.

The medics put Pacific into the ambulance and drove away. The lights and sirens did not turn on. There was no hurry to deliver a dead man to the morgue.

And as a light rain began to fall, the fate of Mr. Pacific had been sealed.

Guest

"A small band of warriors... my command to you is to protect my friends... protect the Night Hawks!"

• • • •

Fate had pulled a fast one. As Pacific’s breath became a static pause in life, as his heart became a hollow of stagnated blood, as his eyes closed and became shutters to the windows of the soul... a terrible, seeping nothingness sank and stayed in Lucretia’s core. Time became a barrier, an enemy stronghold as crowds of citizens, as fluctuations of the living swarmed in an unholy movement of human curiosity. Then came garish, blinding beacons that signaled tragedy. Two men clad in white descended upon Mr. Pacific’s corpse, carried him onto some slab of fabric, and called him “gone.” ‘Gone––that’s what they had said, right. Just ‘gone.’ Someone had died here, for Christ’s sake! A hero had died here! A young man who should have had many more years of vivacity had just been killed, killed as if it were a common act and nothing more. What was wrong with these people? Were they accustomed to this sort of treachery? And now, police officers had contaminated the scene with their own obscenities, nonchalantly asking random passersby idiotic questions like “did you see the assailant?” “Do you know how this happened?” “Did you know that kid?”

''WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!?'

Kree wanted to cry out, but was too overwhelmed to do so,

'HAVE YOU NO DIGNITY FOR THE DEAD? Mr. Pacific, a superhero, has JUST DIED and you’re more concerned about the wretched piece of scum who survived?'

Hot tears did not stream down Black Valkyrie’s face; she did not have the luxury of letting her emotions flow, of releasing sweet, salty drops of sadness, nor did she have a head to have them drip off of. She felt sick, and confused. This had happened too quickly, far to fast and unceremoniously. Was she dreaming? Could she possibly have fallen into a deep state of meditation and unintentionally sent her soul to another destination? That did not make sense, especially because she had been able to touch Mr. Pacific’s face without passing through him without clairvoyance. The beating sun gave way to melancholic clouds as if Nature herself were grieving. Could this be a sign that it was Black Valkyrie’s time to return to heaven, too?

But wait! She hadn’t gotten the chance to figure out if Mr. Pacific was her warrior! She had missed yet another chance, another chance not only of redemption, but of the due opportunity to exalt the fifteen-year-old boy on High!

'Oh, Gods! GODS!]

Kree mourned,

‘Why have I failed Thee again? Why cannot I fulfill this Calling? Why can these warriors be permitted to fall within my jurisdiction if I’m just destined to fail? Oh, Saviour, let him be exalted anyway. Let him be saved by an angel like unto myself! Don’t leave him to suffer because I have failed my duty! I will do anything––ANYTHING to compensate for this one wish of my own! I––’

...her silent prayer was prolonged as some sort of force of desperation compelled her to make a deal that would seal her mortality forever:

'I will not only protect the Night Hawks,'

This time, her voice was audible:

"But I will serve as their new leader, too. I will take them under my wings to heal theirs that have been clipped. Mr. Pacific’s will shall be granted once and then again ten-fold. They will become my masters, and I their indentured servant for eternity, even go so far as to carrying through that duty to the Next Life, whatever that may be for them.”

As she whispered this plea, time vaulted and the present became reality. Everyone seemed to notice her. The light drizzle had blistered into a torrential downfall of pounding rain, and this change in weather seemed to make everyone even more stir-crazy than before... including the officers... well, especially the officers. Suddenly and harshly, Black Valkyrie realised how bad she looked. Very well could she be suspected of being Pacific’s murderer, and there was nothing more in the world at that moment that Kree wanted more than to be alone. Alone, where she could imagine crying. Alone, where she could beg to the Higher Power for mercy and guidance. Alone, where the world could be sealed off and Kree could become one with the Darkness. One with the pain. Also, she had been doing her own spree of “heroism,” but not necessarily within the law’s jurisdiction. Heck, there was even a Deputy Inspector that she had discovered tailing her one long, paranoid night. She had to get out. She had to fly.

Instinctively, Black Valkyrie bolted from where Mr. Pacific’s body had lied, penetrated the crowd, seared through all the chaos while strategically adding to it with a couple of smoke bombs, snatched another defensive device from her sleek-black motorcyclist’s uniform, and in the next few seconds, the only trace that she had even been noticed during the tragedy was the roar of an engine and the rumble of loose pavement being scattered everywhere. Kree’s only regret was that she had so little to regret.

This was a job. Emotions were a weakness, and yet they served their purpose by knocking sense into her head, causing yet again another profound realisation: now that she had purged the human “feelings” that came so naturally and forcefully, Black Valkyrie was neither upset nor disappointed, angry or vengeful. Her demeanour had been reset to a casual awareness, while her muscles even relaxed despite all the strain they had just endured. And as Kree sped away on her onyx-coloured motorcycle, she wondered if the fact that she was so good at sorting away nagging emotions––even after they had been as powerful as the ones that assaulted her just seconds ago––was the most inhuman thing about her. Almost robotic, like an organism made solely for work.

Could a stone-cold, unsympathetic, proud, and headless failure hope to possibly lead the Night Hawks and fill the hole that Mr. Pacific once occupied? No. Black Valkyrie could not hope; hope was another one of those pesky weaknesses. All she could count on for comfort was success.

Guest

ooc:// Would this be an official ending, then, Dar-sama?

Guest

OOC: Unless Bane still plans to post. Let's leave it open in case she does.

Guest

Nope. I talked to Honest about continuing in a different thread. Leaving this thread to the two of you. Sorry for the dibs and inconvenience.

Guest

Speaking thus, Bane. I have the thread ready:
https://ttrpg.forumotion.com/t2194-the-angel-falls

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