It had been a regular night for me. Stopped a couple of muggers, one or two rapists and a pair of bumbling house robbers. It hadn't been remotely hard either, I thought as I hung up the house robbers from their legs on a lamp post, though I wished for a challenge.
But still it was better than what I used to do in my spare time. Back then I was your average millionaire playboy. I spent money as soon as I got it, chased women whose names I couldn't even remember by the next day and I drank. Oh yes did I drink.
That all changed when I almost met my end at Egypt. I dragged myself through the burning sand, bullet wounds in my chest and bleeding my heart out, into an old temple. But it wasn't just any temple, it was his temple: Khonshu. God of the Moon and my savior.
I lived because of Khonshu's mercy and forgiveness so I repaid him by spending the rest of my life in service to him. The playboy was gone and I turned into Khonshu's sword and shield, his warrior in white, his bringer of justice.
I became Moon Knight.
I finished tying up the thieves. The sound of police sirens approached, that was my cue. A whooshing noise was heard and the MoonCopter flew down just enough for me to jump in. It was my personal aircraft which was shaped like a silver crescent moon. The main seat on the cockpit was occupied by Frenchie, my long time butler and friend; he nodded to me as I came aboard. I sat on the 2nd seat as the MoonCopter zoomed away.
The scene below became occupied by police who were obviously annoyed by my handiwork with rope. It would take them a while to disassemble the knot which I had learned when I was training to become CIA operative. Really my whole history was like that. I had been a heavyweight boxer at first before becoming a U.S. Marine then I worked for the CIA.
But Khonshu showed me that I had been wasting my talents so I turned away from that life and became a so-called "superhero" instead. I used my abilities and talents on crime itself wherever it was.
The MoonCopter passed Avengers Mansion and I felt a twinge of anger. I had once been an Avenger. But that had been when I was younger and more energetic. I had now been serving Khonshu as Moon Knight for 17 years. Its effects were prominent. I was covered in many gashes and scars, all loved ones either dead or living in seclusion, all wealth nearly gone. Being Moon Knight was draining me off what precious life I had.
Funny it seemed almost yesterday that it was my first time as Moon Knight. As the MoonCopter kept flying I began to remember.
17 YEARS AGO
I opened a cabinet and was bathed in white and silver. The Moon Knight suit was new and ready to be used. I put it on while Frenchie watched from the corner of the room.
"Are you sure about this Mr. Spector?" he asked sweating.
"You know I have to do this Frenchie, for Khonshu." I told him firmly.
"But Marc you still have a choice in this you know." He walked towards me. "If you do this, you'll go down a road you'll never come out off."
I hesitated to put on the hood. Frenchie was right, I still had a choice.
I put the hood over my head and placed the gray mask on my face. I turned towards Frenchie.
"This is my choice."
He nodded.
"Power up the MoonCopter Frenchie,"
Moments later we were flying over New York Bay, Frenchie was piloting and I was looking out the window. Inside I was sweating with anticipation no matter how much I tried to calm myself. I noticed Frenchie's hands were shaking too.
"Easy there Frenchie," I told him.
"Yes Mr. Spector" he said stuttering.
"There that one!" I said pointing to a ship. It was a large cruise ship with gold lettering identifying it as Bayliner Green. Frenchie flew the MoonCopter over to the ship.
"Open the bay doors Frenchie," I instructed him.
He pressed a button and air started to fly inside fluttering my cape backwards. I walked over to the doors. I could see dark sea beneath me.
"Alright Frenchie like I said, when I need you I'll call you and you'll-"
"Appear instantly to transport you away. Mr. Spector we've been over this countless times, are you sure though?" he asked me.
"I looked down through the doors then back at him.
"Yeah I'm sure; if all goes well tonight Frenchie we'll celebrate. Deal?" I asked.
His face slowly broke into a grin. "Deal Mr. Spector…or Moon Knight," he said.
"See you later Frenchie," I said. I jumped through the doors. My cape was fluttering and I was diving down to the harbor.
"Please work," I muttered under my breath. Then I extended the cape. I immediately slowed down and began to glide. I whooped in my mind and pointed myself towards the large ship. The wind whipped across my covered face.
I landed silently on what appeared to be a dining area of the ship. I inhaled air slowly.
The Bayliner Green was not a cruise ship. That was its cover; it was secretly a ship that provided whatever was needed to people who asked for it. It supplied weapons, drugs, prostitutes and the occasional dangerous weapon for supervillains. Tonight I would ensure that this would be its final voyage.
On my belt I carried several explosives that I would place on the ship's engine, then I would call Frenchie to pick me up and I'd blow the ship up to kingdom come. I heard some footsteps and ducked behind a chair. It was a man dressed in a black turtleneck equipped with an AK-47. Your standard mercenary.
I pulled out a dart that was shaped like the moon. I aimed it over my head and threw it. I saw it enter the man's chest and he collapsed. They were filled with a fast acting knockout-fluid. I crouched and went silently over to him. I couldn't allow bodies to just be strewn around could I? I grabbed him by the legs and dragged him behind a table.
I quietly ran over to a railing. Two men were standing below looking at the sea and talking. I pulled out a silver truncheon that I had specially made. I grabbed on to the railing and jumped over. I smacked the first merc across the head when I landed. The 2nd one took aim of me with his gun. I jumped and kicked him backwards, he fell of the ship.
A third mercenary showed up behind me. I heard him talk.
"Hands in the air, now!" he said.
I quickly turned around and threw the truncheon at his head. It hit it directly and ricocheted back into my hand. I ran to him and slid into his legs. He fell over like a domino. I slammed the truncheon across his head. He was knocked out. The mercenary behind who I had first hit got back up. I threw a knockout-dart at him. I heard his body fall to the floor.
After hiding their bodies, I entered the ship's control cabin. I would have to move the ship away from the harbor in order for no civilians to be harmed when I blew it up. The control cabin was at the upmost of the ship, I quickly spotted it. I took out a small grappling hook and fired it at the roof of the cabin. A small crescent moon hook shot out and attached itself to the cabin and I flew up, my cape fluttering behind me.
The small cabin room was surrounded by computers and a wheel to steer the ship. Two men who appeared to be in their 20s were inside. I pushed open the door and they quickly turned towards me. They looked dumbfounded, as if they had never seen someone like me before…which they probably hadn't.
"Hello gentlemen, nice evening isn't it?" I told them in a calm voice.
The man on the right slowly reached for a walkie-talkie behind him.
"Well, nice meeting you gentlemen." I said. I grabbed 2 darts and threw them at them. The one who was standing up fell to the floor while the other one fell on his chair. I went forward and pushed one of them of off the chair. I cracked my knuckles and looked at the computers in front of me. They all had passcodes.
"Ok CIA training," I said under my breath "Let's see if you're still there."
I hacked the computers in less than a minute; it was a simple matter of pressing buttons. All of the things I wanted to see showed up in front of me….except for a computer on the left where one of the men had been watching pornography.
I raised the anchor and turned the ship away from the harbor. No doubt the only mercenaries left would be the ones guarding the ship's cargo. Only thing left to do now was to dispatch them and place the bombs on the engines.
Someone entered the cabin. I quickly jumped down as a spray of bullets hit the glass in front of me. I flipped backwards as more bullets went towards me; I jumped towards a wall and flipped off of it landing a kick in the man's face. He fell to the floor and quickly pulled out a handgun, he fired at me. The bullet hit my armored shoulder but I felt pain anyways. I grabbed at it with my left hand. The man got back up and aimed his pistol at my heart. Quick as a flash I kicked the gun out of his hand then gave him a right-cross with my remaining hand. Then with both of my hands, I smashed his head against a window. The window cracked, blood started to come out of the man's head. I then slammed him against the wall; he fell to the floor slowly.
"You know I'm starting to like this hero stuff," I said quietly as I removed the bullet from my shoulder.
I left the room and jumped off of the cabin. The ship had already moved a good distance from the harbor and it was fast approaching sea. I could see the Statue of Liberty in the distance. Landing quietly I entered a door that led to the cargo and engines. I entered the engine room; there was a mercenary sleeping at a desk in the front of the room. A quick blow the head and he was knocked out.
The engines were now at full force pushing the ship away from the harbor and I was surprised that the mercenary here hadn't heard them turn on. I took out the explosives from my belt: lots and lots of C-4 explosives. I went quickly across the room and placed the C-4 around. I grabbed the unconscious mercenary. It was at this moment that it occurred to me that all of the unconscious mercenaries wouldn't exactly be safe when the ship blew up so I decided to get some help. I took out my phone and called Frenchie.
"Is everything ok Mr.-Wait who is this?" he asked nervously.
"Frenchie calm down, I need your help." I told him quietly.
"What is it Mr. Spector? Do you require me to transport you away?"
"No, not yet. I'm going to leave you some unconscious mercenaries in the front of the ship. I need you to dump them somewhere safe."
"I see Mr. Spector…I'll place them in the harbor. I won't be able to come transport you as quickly while I'm moving the bodies, but I'll try to do my quickest."
"Right back at you Frenchie,"
I hung up. I dragged all of the mercenary's unconscious bodies into a pile while Frenchie moved them into the MoonCopter. The MoonCopter flew away and I rushed into the cargo room to take out the remaining mercenaries.
A while later I was sneaking across a cat-walk looking down below into the cargo room. The room was full of large boxes that made effective sniper posts. There were 2 men on top of some boxes holding high-powered sniper rifles and a man wearing a black body suit that covered him completely pacing the floor.
I glided down silently on to one of the boxes. It made a slight creaking noise, one of the snipers turned toward my position. I could hear walking to me, I ducked behind a box. From where I was I could see the other sniper looking away. He couldn't see me and he wasn't paying attention to the other sniper.
When the sniper was just behind the box where I was crouching. I quickly threw a dart at him. He fell to the floor.
CRASH
Quickly the man in the body suit went to check on him while the other sniper searched the room through his scope. I could hear them talking:
"Someone's in here," said the sniper loudly.
"Well then shoot him as soon as you see him!"
I noticed that part of my cape could be seen so I pulled it towards me. The sniper saw. He fired at the box where I was hiding missing me by mere inches. The bullet went directly through the box and embedded itself in the wall in front of me. Time to go all out.
I ran quickly using the boxes as cover, bullets went flying but I was quick. I took out my grappling hook and calculated the trajectory between it and the sniper's barrel. I fired the hook. It attached itself to the sniper's barrel just as he fired.
BANG.
The gun exploded and the other sniper fell to the floor. The only person left was the man in the body suit. He couldn't see me. I got to the top of a large box and glided at him, then extended my feet so they would hit his face. The man in the body suit quickly turned and jumped backwards. I landed peacefully on the floor facing the man. He looked back at me.
I ran towards him, my truncheon in one hand. I swung it at him but he bended over almost touching the floor. He came back up and swung his legs at mine so that I fell to the floor. I jumped back up and swung my fist at him; he dodged it and gave me a series of quick-punches to the chest which hurt. I dropped my truncheon and he kicked me backwards about 5 feet. I slid towards a box.
Regaining my strength, I saw the man tear off the body suit. He was wearing a second suit underneath. It was black and white with a white bullseye on the forehead. He gave me a menacing grin.
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" he asked me.
I got back up on my feet and ran towards him. I pulled out a silver stick that expanded into a large staff. I slammed it into his chest then smacked him across the face with it, blood flew out of his mouth.
"Moon Knight," I answered. He wiped the blood from his face which actually made him look more menacing. He grabbed the staff and jumped over it legs up landing a kick in my face, he landed back down.
"Never heard of you. New hero?" he asked. I nodded. I tripped him with the staff, he got back up and swung his fists at me. I dodged every punch.
"Yeah I'm a new hero,"
"How cute, but unfortunately I'm going to have to cut your career short"
He flipped backwards and reached into his belt. He threw something silver and star-shaped, it directly hit my chest. I looked down to see shurikens lodged into my chest, they had bullseye prints in the middle.
"Off my own design. Like them?" the man asked. I pulled off the shurikens and threw them away. The man pulled out two pistols and fired them at me. I jumped away.
"Name's Bullseye by the way,"
"Piss off" I yelled.
I took out my last knockout-dart and threw it at him. He crouched, the dart went flying past him. He chuckled.
"You missed, I never miss," he said tauntingly.
"What about right now?" I yelled mockingly at him. He fired angrily at me and I slid under the bullets. "You'll regret that you cheeky a-hole!"He screamed. While I was ducking behind a box, I got a call. It was Frenchie. I answered.
"Frenchie not to be rude, but this isn't exactly the best time." I whispered.
"Sorry Mr. Spector but I thought I should inform you that there are reinforcements coming! You need to finish up whatever you're doing there quickly!" he said quickly.
"Thanks Frenchie," I hung up. Bullseye was firing at random boxes to see if I was there. Had to think! Bullseye was superb with weapons and I would never get to him as long as he had them or was paying attention…that reminded me of an old trick that just might work in this situation.
Bullseye saw the white of my cape and sneaked up on me. When he was directly behind it he fired multiple times at it. Then I launched my attack, I had removed my cape and placed it there so that Bullseye would think that it was me while I was actually hidden in a different box ready to strike.
I jumped towards him and landed a hard kick in his back. He fell surprised and I took out my truncheon and slammed him with it multiple times. He was too weak to get back up, his face was covered in blood. He looked at me as though surprised.
"You know, you ain't too bad." He said weakly.
"Thanks." And I swung the truncheon at him again.
I ran out of that room carrying Bullseye and the 2 other mercenaries. The reinforcement boats were close. They saw me and started firing. Bullets went whizzing past my head. I called Frenchie.
"Yes Mr. Spector?" he answered.
"Frenchie time to go, now!"
"I am flying towards your location as we speak Mr. Spector,"
Then I saw the MoonCopter flying towards me. It stood still hovering on the side of the boat. The cockpit opened up and I could hear Frenchie's voice.
"Run Mr. Spector!"
Bullets were starting to hit the MoonCopter and it wasn't very protected. I threw Bullseye and the other mercenaries off the side of the ship and jumped into the MoonCopter.
"Get us out of here Frenchie!"
"Right away Mr. Spector,"
We flew away a safe distance. Frenchie gave me a questioning look, I nodded. I took out the detonator and pressed the button. The night was immediately flooded in orange, debris flew everywhere towards the sea. When the smoke cleared, I could see the moon high up in the sky. I turned to Frenchie.
"I think this calls for a celebration," I told him. He smiled.
I could see the mansion in the distance, Frenchie said "We're here,". I pulled off my white gloves and stared at the tired hands that faced me. I turned to Frenchie.
"You know Frenchie, superhero or not, a person has such a short precious life to enjoy. And it's time I started to enjoy mine."
THE END.