Initiative 2030
Moon Knight Rising
One of Two
"Moon Knight's been sighted? Seriously?" Julie Power asked, the brown haired reporter (and secretly the heroine called Lightspeed) going through the paper's tip line.
"What's wrong with Moon Knight?" David Roberts asked, a fellow reporter for Front Line who was polishing an article on an attempt to assassinate Cyclops in California.
"You weren't in New York when he was first around," Julie noted. She leaned back in her chair, "He's the clinically crazy superhero, basically."
"What?" David asked, surprised.
"He has Dissociative Identity Disorder, what people used to call Multiple Personalities," Julie told him, "he had three or four, not sure. Oh, and he's incredibly violent. Like, actually cutting people's faces off, violent."
David visible paled, "Holy shit."
"Now, now," their boss, Ben Ulrich, emerged from his office as he told them, "Moon Knight had stable periods. He was even an Avenger for a bit."
"In the not a-list West Coast team," Julie noted. "And later fought them while an avatar of his crazy moon god," she observed.
"Well, yes," Ben conceded. He moved closer to Julie's desk as he asked, "Let me see the tips we got on him..."
Multiple people had sighted Moon Knight, or at least someone who was wearing the costume. White hooded cloak, costume with moon symbol, and they mostly appeared to fight with twin batons. Interestingly, there had been no fatalities or serious injuries.
"Boss?" Julie asked as he studied the reports thoughtfully.
"I want someone to look into then," Ben decided, "there might be a story here." He looked at her, "You busy?"
Julie REALLY wished she had kept her mouth shut. On the other hand, it could be interesting... "Okay, I'll take it," she said. "I'll start by checking in with the local Initiative, then go from there," she added as she printed up the reports.
"Call if you need backup," Ben reminded her as he went back to his office.
"Good luck!" David added.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
New York's Initiative base was on the site of the old Avenger's Mansion, which many people found in poor taste. They HAD left the statues of fallen Avengers that had been put in the park by the Maria Stark foundation, but many New Yorkers still found it tacky.
A young man manned the front desk, dressed in the usual government uniform of cheap blue suit and red tie. "How can I help you?" he asked, bored.
"Julie Power, reporter for Front Line," she showed her press pass, "I have an appointment with Commander Walker."
"Right, I'll escort you there," the man nodded.
John Walker had been a real super hero back in the day, originally a government selected replacement for Captain America, then becoming US Agent. He got seriously injured, and while he recovered (sort of) he eventually retired. Then when President Richards asked him to head up NY Initiative, he jumped at the job.
"Miss Power," John smiled, shaking her hand. "Still working for that Commie Ulrich?" he teased her impishly.
"Of course, my Russian handlers demand it," Julie deadpanned as Walker laughed.
John limped back to his desk as he said, "Take a seat. How can I help you?"
"I actually have some information for you," Julie passed the printed out tips over to him, "apparently Moon Knight is back."
"Oh hell," John blinked as he reviewed the papers. "Hold on a sec," he said as he pressed a switch on his desk.
A somewhat younger man hurried in, his brown hair a little messy but his suit a better cut than most. "Yes sir?" he said.
"Carlton LaFroyge, meet Julie Power," John introduced the man.
"Hindsight Lad," Julie said flatly, recognizing him.
Carlton winced. "I'm trying to live that down," he said mildly.
Carlton had been an ally of the New Warriors, not long before the team accidentally blew up a city. He turned on the group, revealing many of their civilian identities and triggering mobs trying to kill some of them. He later became a conspiracy theorist.
"Carlton, what do we know about Moon Knight reappearing?" John demanded.
"No photos, no video," Carlton said briskly, "and we don't know why. And no Scarlet Spiders have encountered him yet, either."
"No one's gotten a picture?" Julie blinked, thinking of everyone in the city with camera equipped phones and such.
"Stark has cloaking tech," John noted.
"Or it's magic," Carlton offered. John gave him a LOOK. He shrugged, "There are some weird as hell stories about him, sir."
"So, for the record, Moon Knight is not a registered hero and is operating without authorization?" Julie checked.
"Yes, he's not registered," John confirmed.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Julie signaled for a Uber, who arrived in a nice, black car in a few moments. "Hey," the younger brown haired woman waved, "Kate Lockley. Nice to see ya."
"Julie Power," she said after making sure the plate was right. You could never be too careful.
"Hey, you write for Front Line, right?" Kate noted, "Cool. I've read a few of yours."
"Thanks," Julie said, then gave the address for the first tip. "Can I just book you for the whole afternoon? I have a couple places to go."
"Sure. I'd rather have a couple of guaranteed trips anyway," Kate noted.
Julie soon found herself getting similar stories from each witness. They had been out at night, been attacked/threatened/robbed and Moon Knight swooped down silently to save them. They subdued they attacker, checked on the victim and left.
"All the same," Julie muttered.
"Is this going to hit the papers?" the bubblegum chewing teen asked.
"Probably," Julie said, "It depends on how busy the news gets. Can you tell me anything about how they looked?"
"Kinda like a mummy," the girl noted. "Though...,"
"Uh huh?" Julie prompted.
"Don't hold me to this," she cautioned, "but I saw something metallic too, I think. Maybe armor under the cloth?"
"Huh," Julie made a note, "thanks."
Kate was casually leaning up against the car as she waited. She smiled as Julie walked up, "Where to next, ma'am?"
"I think I'm pretty much done here," Julie admitted then asked, "could you run me back to the Front Line offices?"
"Will do," and Kate got behind the wheel.
Kate pulled up to the office, quickly got out and hurried around to open Julie's door.
"Why, thank you," Julie smiled.
"My card," Kate handed her one, "Call me, if you need a driver again." She paused and added, "Or just call me."
Julie smiled at the charming woman, "I'll think about it."
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
"Why do you wear white?"
"So they can see me coming."
The man screamed in terror as he went flying out the window, luckily falling into the fire escape outside. Moon Knight calmly turned to face the remaining two men, who were busy struggling with a woman captive.
"Let her go," Moon Knight ordered, voice muffled by the full mask.
"KILL 'IM!" one guy pulled a gun.
The then howled as a ankh shaped blade plunged into his hand, making him drop the weapon. Before either goon could react Moon Knight charged them, punching the un-injured guy in the face. His nose broke wetly, sending him staggering backwards.
"You damn...," the other guy struggled to get the knife out.
Moon Knight punched him in the belly, then as he bent forward uppercut him, sending him crashing to the ground. They then stalked over to the other dude, putting him down efficiently.
"Oh god, oh god...," the woman whimpered breathlessly.
Moon Knight strode over, looking to see if she was injured. "Come with me," they ordered, and led the hysterical woman to the street, where they heard sirens in the distance.
"Thank you," the woman managed, but Moon Knight just calmly walked away.
To be continued...
