Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.
Let's get to it.
ihatetigerstar: At least one major character will die in my version of Crisis. No spoilers on who though.
Chapter 8- The Next Step
Natasha slowly makes her way out of the warehouse where, just a few minutes ago, she was conversing with Moon Knight, or as she now knows him, Marc Spector. She spent a few minutes after he disappeared looking around the warehouse to see if he had left anything behind that might give her any idea of where she might be able to find either Marc or his brother. However, there was nothing left in the warehouse. She was going to have to start from scratch.
As she walks out of the warehouse, she realizes she hasn't spoken to Oliver since before she encountered Moon Knight and Shadow Knight. She quickly activates her earpiece and says, "Oliver, do you hear me?"
"Yes, Nat. I was starting to get worried," Oliver replies.
"I'm okay. But I've got something we need to discuss. Meet me at the USS Midway," Natasha says.
Oliver is quiet for a moment before replying, "Alright. I'm on my way."
Natasha starts to run, keeping to a respectable pace so as to not draw any unwanted attention. To anyone else, she would just look like some lady out on a night jog.
From where she is in downtown San Diego, it only takes her about 30 minutes to reach the Midway. When she gets there, she sees no sign of Oliver. Only the bulk of the massive carrier outlined against the lights coming from NAS North Island.
Natasha paces back and forth in front of the carrier for several minutes before she hears the twang of Oliver's bow. She turns and sees Oliver swinging on a grappling hook arrow. He lands on the ground a few yards away and then makes his way over to her.
"Hey. What happened?" Oliver asks as he approaches her.
"A lot," Natasha sums up the events of the last hour.
Oliver raises an eyebrow inquisitively. Natasha looks at her fiancée and says, "I found Moon Knight. About an hour ago. But, when I found him, he was fighting with another masked man, who was wearing a suit that basically looked almost exactly like Moon Knight's, only it was light greyish tan instead of white. I jumped in to help Moon Knight, but the other guy was good. Really good. It didn't take long before Moon Knight threw down some smoke grenades to cover us, and we escaped."
Natasha pauses for a moment, then she continues, "He took me to a warehouse about a half hour walk from here, and I convinced him to explain everything to me. He told me his name is Marc Spector. Some time ago, while he was working in Egypt as a mercenary, he nearly died, but he says he was visited by the Egyptian god Khonshu, who healed him and brought him back from the edge of death, and gave him special powers and skills, and made him, in his words, his 'avatar of justice'."
"Really? An Egyptian god?" Oliver asks.
"You've met Thor and faced down Thanos, and this sounds crazy to you?" Natasha asks incredulously.
"Touche," Oliver replies.
"Anyways. He says he's been working as a vigilante here in the States for a while. And apparently, not long after he started, the other masked man I saw, who he calls Shadow Knight, came after him. Apparently, Shadow Knight is Moon Knight's estranged brother, Randall Spector. They've apparently always been at each other's throats. Shadow Knight always had to be better at everything. He even once killed one of Marc's girlfriends just to spite him. They've been enemies to the point of wanting to kill each other for years. And, apparently, Randall was at one point also chosen by Khonshu as his avatar, or at least believes he was. And according to Marc, that was unacceptable for his brother to also be chosen by Khonshu. So, he came forward to try and kill Marc. However, Marc beat him and Shadow Knight retretated," Natasha says.
She pauses again for a moment, then says, "Apparently, the reason Marc has been operating as Moon Knight up and down California is because he's been hoping that his actions would draw his brother out of hiding again. And tonight, they did. I came across them fighting, and I jumped in. But Shadow Knight is good. He was holding us both off, and eventually Marc decided it was better to end the fight and try again later. He got us out of there using smoke grenades."
Oliver is quiet for several moments before he finally says, "Well, that's definitely not the strangest story I've ever heard. And it definitely puts my family problems to shame." This breaks the grim mood a bit, causing both of them to laugh.
Once they stop laughing, Oliver asks, "So, once you guys got away from Shadow Knight, Moon Knight told you everything?"
"Yeah," Natasha says. She pauses for a moment, then says, "After he told me everything, I tried to tell him that I would help him take down his brother. But he refused. He insisted that with everything that's happened between them, and because Shadow Knight is pursuing him just because he wants to be better, that Shadow Knight is his problem, and nobody else's. I tried to persuade him to let me help, but he insisted that he is going to take Shadow Knight down, without anyone's help, and then he just disappeared. He's even more stubborn than you."
That last bit makes Oliver chuckle a bit. Once he stops chuckling, he looks at Natasha for several moments before he says, "And you're intending to go ahead and help him whether he likes it or not, aren't you?"
Natasha smiles. "You know me too well," she replies.
Oliver laughs once before saying, "Well, we are engaged. I should hope I know you that well." The two laugh, and Natasha walks up to him to give him a kiss.
As they separate, Oliver says, "Alright. Let's head back to the Compound and see if we can find a way to track him down."
Natasha nods, then says, "I think we should keep this between us, and not involve the rest of the team. I feel like the more people working on this, the greater chance Shadow Knight would realize we're onto him."
"Good idea," Oliver says. He takes Natasha's hand, and the two start heading back towards the spot where they parked their car, ready to get started trying to find Moon Knight again.
And, I'll end there. Hope this was a good chapter.
Next chapter should be up relatively soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!