A dash of red is all he sees before he falls, unconscious and incapacitated. The other three men stare in shock, uncomprehending his sudden collapse and then gasping in terror when they glance heavenward towards the silhouette of a woman, standing tall in the light of the full moon. All that can be seen of her is the brutal scarlet of her cape, flowing like blood in the dark night sky.
Before they can even think to run, she leaps high into the air, her cape becoming crimson wings as she takes flight. She lands delicately and mercilessly kicks one of the men in between his crotch, sending him crashing through a wall and frothing at the mouth. Without pausing, she turns to knock the lights out of another, her fist swinging hard into his gut as his eyes roll back into his head and he faints. Then, she quickly knees the last one in the crotch, causing his knees to buckle, and chops him on the back of his neck as he falls. Within seconds, four criminals have been apprehended in a dark, narrow alleyway.
The woman neatly and efficiently ties up the four, obviously having done this previously, and, with a single hand, slings them behind her shoulder like a student would a backpack. She then leaps high on to a two-story building next to the alley and rapidly travels across the quiet city, easily dodging any type of traffic as she whistles an offtune melody.
Before long, the woman arrives at a police station and shoves the door open cheerfully. The overworked, exhausted employees working overtime barely react at her appearance. Visibly disappointed, the woman coughs loudly, catching only a single person's attention.
"Yes, miss-" The tired policewoman sighs, looking up and suddenly pausing. "Ohmigodohmigod-" She then continues, her eyes widening and making her look more awake than she ever has her entire life. "Holy shit- are you- oh my god-" Unable to form any proper sentence, she ends up staring with her mouth gaping like a fish at the newcomer. She gathers her wits about her and finally forms a coherent thought.
"Are you- are you the Crimson Hawk?" The "Crimson Hawk," for her part, smiled smugly and proudly, nodding her head once and tossing the four incapacitated men to the floor.
"I'll leave these guys to you," She winks. "Have a good night, officer." Before anything more can be said, the woman darts out of the station, and out of the policewoman's life, forever.
She jumps on top of a nearby building, and continues to defend the city throughout the night.
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The next morning, Elli wakes up, yawning and stretching. She heads directly towards the bathroom to take a dump, but as she climbs off her bed, she stumbles on a red cape tossed messily aside on the floor and collapses onto the ground.
"I stayed out too late last night," She groans to herself, unwilling to get up, finding the carpet more comfortable than she would have thought. "This is what I get for not managing my superhero life well," She continues.
"Well, you have no one to blame but yourself, in that case."
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
"Argh, you don't have to tell me that- wait a minute! What the-" Elli shoots up, eyes wide. "Who's talking?!"
"Me." A mysterious, disembodied voice sounds in her head.
"Who is me?!" Elli is wide awake now, and extremely alarmed. "Holy shit, I'm actually going insane. Oh god, I can't be a superhero anymore, I'm actually an insane person, and insane people are supervillains, not superhero! That means I have to change my name, but then I'll have to fight against my own team- I just joined them, what the fuck, now I have to fight against them?! Why does this stuff happen to me-"
"Whoa, there, cowboy. Er, cowgirl. Not so fast. I'm not a voice in your head- okay, I'm a voice in your head, but not the crazy kind. You're fine. And actually pretty rude, since not all 'crazy' people are bad, you know? Like, it's an unfair stereotype that you're pushing here."
Elli blinks. "Okay. Okay, brain. Comfort yourself. Deny the crazy thing and lecture yourself about generalizations and stereotypes. Cool. Cool." She pauses. "Wait, if you think you're going insane, then you're not... does that mean if you tell yourself that you're not insane, you're actually insane? Oh, no."
"No, you're not insane. I think. I mean, whatever. I know that I'm not a part of you- see, I was recently killed, and for some reason, now I'm stuck with you. You can't see me, but you can hear me. No one else can, though. So... uh..."
Elli moans as comprehension dawns on her. "I'm either insane or I have a ghost haunting me- this is a lose-lose situation, fuck!"
"Hey," Sounding very offended, the voice interjects. "I'll be a nice ghost. I'll help you out or something, I dunno."
"I hope you realize that that's not very helpful when it's coming from a voice in my head."
"Just trying to help, man. I wasn't willingly initiated into this, anyway. I didn't want to become a ghost and somehow begin haunting a stranger." The voice sounds affronted.
"So you are haunting me, you little shit!"
"Okay, so maybe I am. But I don't intend to?" The voice pauses. "That actually made no sense whatsoever."
"Huh. Maybe I'm not insane, but you are." Elli, after long exposure to the mysterious, disembodied voice, begins to be less afraid and panicked. "You know what, maybe you're not so bad. Like an annoying sidekick or something. I can use a sidekick."
"This... Is the most sudden turn-around I have ever seen. Weren't you just having a freak-out like a second ago?"
"What can I say, Mr. Ghost? I'm adaptable." Elli smiles a little. "So, Mr. Ghost..."
"Call me Lloyd. 'Mr. Ghost' sounds like a, I dunno, weird guy from a Professor Layton game or something."
"'K, 'Lloyd.' I'm Elli."
"So... I guess we do this now?"
Elli shrugs, staring at nowhere before she snaps back to attention, having remembered something. "Oh yeah, uh, by the way, Lloyd, just so you know, I'm also the superhero Crimson Hawk."
A moment of silence falls between the two.
"You're the what?!"
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What kinds of adventures will Elli and Lloyd get into? Find out on the next episode (er- chapter) of "The Crimson Hawk!"
Hopefully the author won't lose inspiration and the chapters after this will be longer.
By the way, the author appreciates any feedback as long as it is constructive criticism, as the author needs any help they can get to improve upon their poor writing. Many thanks!