Lost Haven - Even Aliens Bleed

Jaelyn let a pained hiss snake through her clenched teeth as the nurse pried another shard of glass out of skin. The nurse shot Jae a sympathetic but nervous smile. Jae bit the inside of her cheek and looked aside. Jae’s eyes fell on to the observation window on the far side of the room and the faces crammed against the glass of the observation room adjoining the treatment room. Several dozen interns vied for spots closest to the window, notebooks and pens in hand as they’re quizzical eyes peered in at her.

“Ow!” Jae snapped, yanking her hand away from the nurse as the young woman pried and especially large piece of glass from Jae’s palm. A faint blue sheen erupted over Jae’s hand suddenly.

A string of screams and curses filled the observation room as one of the light bulbs exploded over the intern’s heads. The nurse glanced between Jae and the now dimly lit observation room, her face pinched with anxiousness. Jae swallowed and lowered her eyes guiltily. The blue sheen quickly faded.

“Alright, show’s over. Everyone move it. If I see even one of you straggling behind I’ll make sure you work weekend rounds for the next month!” Jae’s head shot up as the door to the treatment room burst open. Dr. Karen Swanson brushed into the room with the air of a seasoned professional, her eyes skimming over Jae with a clinical detachment before settling on the anxious young nurse.

“Who authorized this little show and tell stunt?” Dr. Swanson snapped, her hazel eyes glinting. The young nurse stuttered for a moment, trying to collect herself.

“Dr. Jacobi thought it would be educational for the interns to see a Tieran specimen up close…” the young woman stuttered. Dr. Swanson’s hazel eyes took on a dangerous, shark like gleam as the nurse spoke. Jae bit her lip, her eyes turning pityingly towards the cowed nurse.

“Dr. Jacobi is not this hospital’s resident Tieran expert. I am. I’d be glad if you’d keep that in mind, Nurse….” Dr Swanson deliberately raised a questioning brow to the young woman.

“Me-Megan Tosh,” the young woman stuttered, taking a step back from Dr. Swanson. Nurse Tosh fluttered a nervous hand towards her name badge in a useless gesture. Dr Swanson ignored her and moved towards the observation window.

“Well Nurse Tosh, as the leading resident here on Tieran biology, I will be conducting the remainder of this examination. You may leave…now,” Dr Swanson snapped as she pulled the curtain shut over the observation room’s window with a resounding slap. Nurse Tosh ducked her head in an apologetic gesture and rushed from the room. .

“A bit harsh on the girl, Doc. I think you might have made her cry,” Jae snipped in a deadpan voice after Nurse Tosh had departed. Dr Karen Swanson snorted as she began pulling on a pair of examination gloves.

“Shut up Hart,” Karen growled under her breath as she took a seat in front of Jae. She gently clasped Jae’s hand in her own, palm up. Karen let out a tiny hiss as she examined the battered limb. Jae let her hand relax in Karen’s capable and gentle grasp. Jae chewed at her lower lip while Karen probed some of the deeper cuts.

“Stupid woman,” Karen finally growled as she turned to the carefully laid out instruments on the sterile medical tray, “She might have well have been pulling glass out of an elephant’s backside! No skill at all. Some of these abrasions will have to be sutured shut.”

“I don’t blame her,” Jae murmured, eyeing the gruesome mess that had once been her right palm, “Most humans overestimate Tieran healing capabilities. She probably knew we heal quickly and have a high pain threshold but overestimated my own capabilities.”

“Don’t talk like that Jaelyn,” Dr Swanson sighed as she slid back into her seat. “Dr Jacobi should have paged me the minute you were admitted but instead he put a ditzy nurse and roomful of students in here and turned a simple procedure into a three ring circus. It’s uncalled for.”

“I take it you and Dr Jacobi had a falling out?” Jae asked politely, wincing as Karen removed a finger wide length of glass from her hand. Karen shook her head bitterly, strands of coffee colored hair curling around her olive toned face.

“Dr Jacobi’s vying for residency at Central Medical in their biotechnologies department and he just found out that yours truly is currently the front runner for the position,” Dr Swanson murmured begrudgingly. Jae nodded thoughtfully.

“Do you think you’ll take the offer from Central?”Jae tried not to calculate how many miles Central Medical was away from Haven. Karen’s laugh has harsh and dry. Her hazel eyes shot to Jae’s face as a twisted smile pulled at her mouth.

“Are you kidding me? The Tieran Embassy has a position in their medical center opening up in two years. With my experience interning at the Embassy and your mother’s recommendation as both my patient and the Tieran Ambassador to Earth, I’ve got that position locked in. And anyways,” Karen added as she pulled another glass fragment from Jae’s hand, “Who else would be around to deal with your injuries.” Jae tried to fight back the grateful smile that threatened to blossom on her face.

Jaelyn flexed her bandaged hand, testing the stitches beneath once Dr Swanson had finished. Karen watched the half Tieran girl with a mild, sympathetic smile as Jae slid off the examination table and gathered up her belongings. Dr. Swanson tilted her head to the side as she held the door to the examination room open for Jaelyn. Jae nodded her head in curt thanks as she ducked past Karen.

“Not to be ungrateful, Jae, but why come here and not just go to the Tieran embassy’s doctors? They’re much better at handling Tieran biology,” Dr. Swanson asked, brushing a shock of coffee brown hair from her hazel eyes, “It would have been much less painful. Half of those stitches are from removing the glass shards after your body started healing over them.”

Jae waved her non injured hand over her shoulder in a half dismissal and half thanks to Karen. Dr. Swanson snorted wryly but remained where she was until Jaelyn was out of sight.

Lost Haven - The Scars of the Past

Jaelyn sat up on the couch as she heard the front door to the penthouse buzz open. Blinking sleepily, she glanced at her wristwatch. The glowing watch face informed her that it was nine-thirty at night. Jae yawned and rubbed at her eyes, pondering when exactly she’d fallen asleep on the couch. Jae winced as the overly brilliant white lights flashed on underneath of her mother’s casual touch.

Blinking the spots out of her eyes, Jae turned her head towards her mother. Tig’nara Hart was beautiful by both human and Tieran standards. Jae tucked her chin into the fluffy pillows that crowded the tasteful sofa, her aqua eyes blinking sleepily. Tig’nara Hart stood six feet and two inches in height without her posh Jimmy Choo heels. At a glance it was easy to mistake Tig’nara for a human female. In truth, the Tierans had chosen to immigrate to Earth due to the similarities in their biology to humans. Tig’nara shared the same curves and valleys in her body as her human counterparts. She bore two legs, two arms, two eyes, a mouth and nose just like a human. In contrast, her ears, one on either side of her skull just like a human, were pointed much like a Christmas elf’s ears. Not that one would really notice Tig’nara’s pointed ears from beneath the voluminous waves of curls that swung down Tig’nara’s back and ended at the back of her knees. Tig’nara’s hair would be called ‘blonde’ by human standards, but Tieran hair seemed shaded with multi-facets, like a well cut gem. Tig’nara’s hair shone gold, white, silver, orange, and even burnt red depending on the way the woman was moving. Her eyes were feline in shape but unlike a human, Tig’nara had no pupil. Instead her eyes were a solid turquoise shade that glowed with an eerie otherworldliness.

Jae’s own eyes were human in nature, just like her absentee father’s she assumed. She had pupils much like a human and only the iris’s strange aqua blue shade hinted to her half extraterrestrial nature. Her body was petite in comparison to her mother’s, barely breaking past the five foot five mark.

Jae watched with silent reverence as her mother sorted through some loose papers in a file, her features pinched with concentration. Tierans were notorious for their disdain for showing emotions. To the common eye, Tig’nara’s face would have seemed as calm and blank, but Jae had learned to notice the slight crease in her mother’s lower lip and the fine wrinkles forming in the corners of her mother’s eyes from hours of frowning. Jae had overheard other Tierans tutting over her mother’s blatant facial expressions, complaining that Tig’nara had spent too many years among the humans and was picking up their bad habits. Jae disagreed. She found it comforting to be able to read the tension and frustration in her mother’s subtle facial expressions.

“Good evening Ambassador,” Jae yawned, uncurling her limbs like a cat as she moved off of the sofa. Tig’nara turned her head towards her daughter, a slight upwards tilt in the corner of one full lip telling Jae that Tig’nara was pleased to see her. Tig’nara nodded her head in a silent greeting and returned to shuffling through the folder in her hands. Jae leaned her hip against the back of the couch, her eyes moving over her mother in silent questioning. The moment drew out like a heavy sigh until the tension prickled at Jae.

“You’re home late,” she murmured, wrapping her long arms around her waist. Tig’nara bobbed her head in another silent acknowledgement. Jae worried her lower lip with her teeth, waiting for her mother to speak. The tense lines were forming on her mother’s face again as Jae watched her sort halfheartedly through the capacious file.

“I had to call an emergency meeting with the Tieran Council,” Tig’nara finally answered Jae’s unvoiced question. Tig’nara drew a long, fine boned hand to her brow and rubbed at the taut, honey colored skin. Jae hadn’t inherited her mother’s naturally golden colored skin, but instead had a pale, moon kissed complexion. Jae watched silently as her mother’s face twisted with turmoil.

“Did this emergency meeting have anything to do with Robert Garrick being released from jail tomorrow?” Jae murmured in a low voice, the accusation clear in her tone. Tig’nara’s fingers tightened perceptively around the folder in her hand. Tig’nara lifted her golden head to look at her daughter with forlorn eyes.

“Jaelyn, please listen-“

“No,” Jae snapped, her raven colored brows coming together in a tight scowl, “Don’t act like this doesn’t concern me, mother and don’t act like it doesn’t bother you that Maverick is going to walk free!” Jae felt a sudden flash of satisfaction as her mother visibly flinched. She plowed on with her accusations.

“You were there! You saw what he did to those children. Will you stand by now and do nothing?!”

Tig’nara’s head dipped, her shoulders sinking as her entire spirit seemed to crumble. A sudden shameful wash of regret flowed through Jaelyn as she watched her mother put aside her folder with trembling fingers. Tig’nara moved away from Jaelyn, retreating from her daughter’s accusations and into her private study. She paused before she entered the doorway but didn’t turn to face Jaelyn.

“The Council has made their decision, Jaelyn. Let Earth’s authorities deal with Earth criminals. As a Tieran diplomat, I must obey the Council. You’ll understand…when you’re older.” The door swung shut behind Tig’nara with a resounding thud, leaving Jaelyn feeling bereft.

Jaelyn tried desperately to push back the angry tears that threatened to overwhelm her. Her eyes roved over the empty white walls of the penthouse, begging for any distraction from the tears. Her eyes fell on the display case, the vibrant costume mockingly out of place in the sleek, modernesque apartment. Jae’s anger boiled over as she rushed the case and slammed her curled fist through the glass.

Physical pain burned up Jae’s arm, mixing with the crimson blood that was now rushing down her arm and mingling with splinters of glass embedded in her curled fist.

“Damn it,” Jae whispered, sniffing back the tears that had nothing to do with her battered hand.

Inside her study, Tig’nara flinched as she heard the glass of the display shatter, but made no move to rise and investigate. She didn’t need to see the carnage with her own eyes to know what had happened. Instead, she opened a sealed drawer of her desk. A few faded newspaper clippings and a Polaroid were carefully tucked inside the drawer, gathering dust. Tig’nara’s fingers ghosted over the Polaroid and settled on an article clipped from the front page of the Haven Daily Times. A black and white photo of a dozen shroud wrap tiny bodies lay splayed across the paper with a bold title, “27 Die in Caped Crusade”. Tig’nara looked away from the nightmarish photo, her eyes slipping to the Polaroid and the five familiar and happy young faces under a Youngbloods banner. A single, silent tear rolled down her cheek as she heard the penthouse’s front door slam shut.

"Nightwing" (fantasy movie cast)

I’ve been thinking over if I was to cast a group of actors for a “Nightwing” movie, who’d I’d cast. First off, I’d want the movie to be based upon the Nightwing comics #71-100, written by Devin Grayson. Yeah I’m a Devin Grayson fan, give me a break.

The Story

The story arch would follow Nightwing, the vigilante, and his ongoing battle to clean up the streets of Blüdhaven. At the same time, Nightwing’s secret identity Richard “Dick” Grayson, the former ward of Bruce Wayne and the first Robin, joins the Blüdhaven police force in an attempt to clean up the corrupted city as both Nightwing and Grayson.

He ends up meeting the deadly and beautiful “Tarantula”, a murderous vigilante. Sparks fly between the two. Nightwing is completely opposed to Tarantula’s murdering tactics, but he finds himself drawn to her. Likewise, Tarantula is completely taken by Nightwing. She even goes as far as to break up his relationship with Barbara Gordon a.k.a. The Oracle and formerly Batgirl.

In the end, Nightwing fails to prevent Tarantula from killing Blüdhaven’s kingpin Roland Desmond a.k.a. “Blockbuster” and has a nervous breakdown. Grayson and Flores run off together until Dick finally comes to his senses and turns them both in to the police. Grayson gets acquitted, thanks to his former partner and chief of police Amy Rohrbach, but Tarantula goes to jail.

A little unfair, yeah, but good story!

The Cast

Nightwing/ Dick Grayson – Matt Bomer (White Collar)

Tarantula/Catalina Flores –Michelle Rodriguez (Fast & Furious)

Batman/Bruce Wayne - Christopher Meloni (Law and Order: SVU)

Blockbuster/Roland Desmond - Mickey Rourke (Iron Man II)

Oracle/Barbara Gordon – Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada)

And this is just some fan service....

Lost Haven - "We Once Believed in Heroes"

-A Week Ago-

Jaelyn Hart barely noticed the buzzing of the television as she hunched over her homework. She studied the paragraph she’d spent the last half hour writing. Her eyes lingered thoughtfully on the first sentence. We once believed in heroes. Jae blew out a heavy, angry sigh through her nose as she set her pen aside and glanced towards the rain dappled windows of her mother’s penthouse. The television’s buzzing grew annoyingly loud as the five o’clock news program began.

“Good evening Haven,” the sharp eyed report said, her tone brusque and as clean cut as her tailored red suit, “Tonight’s top story, the criminal Robert Garrick, better known as “Maverick”, is being released from jail this week.” Jae turned around quickly, her interest suddenly peeked. The sharp eyed reporter continued her curt commentary.

“Viewers may recall that Garrick was apprehended by the vigilante crime fighter known as the “Blackbird” twelve years ago after Garrick escaped from Gull Island Penitentiary. Mr. Garrick was imprisoned at Gull Island after he held Fraser High School hostage under his alias “Maverick”. During the sixteen hour long siege twenty seven civilians were killed and another thirty were injured during the ensuing battle between Maverick and the vigilante gang called “The Youngbloods”. The incident spurred Congressional action and helped create the Discowling Act, outlawing masked vigilantism. In further news…”

Jae shut the TV off with a resounding ‘click’. She moved quickly out of her seat and towards the floor to ceiling windows, her thoughts rambling. Jae crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest and let her aqua-blue eyes peer down to the boulevard below her mother’s apartment building. Her thoughts turned again to her report on the Discowling Act.

We once had heroes, Jae thought resentfully, but people have forgotten. They’ve grown complacent in their lives while violence, hate, terror, and crime grow unchecked. This city has forgotten that Lady Justice carries not only the scales of righteousness but a vengeful sword. In the hour of darkness, when evil overwhelms us, Justice’s flaming sword use to strike out at the criminal element in this city. We have forgotten that all it takes is one good man to wield that sword, to make all the difference in the scales of justice.

Jae paused in her thoughts to regard a solemn display case tucked into an alcove in the corner of her mother’s penthouse. A dim light from within the case shown down upon an elaborately designed red-gold costume bristling with stylized flames and a mask. Jae bit her lower lip, bitterness welling up in her chest again. We’ve all forgotten that, Jae reflected as she stared at the abandoned uniform.

Jae pushed a wayward lock of midnight shot hair from her eyes with a frustrated sweep of her hand. Growing up her mother had never made it a secret to Jaelyn that she had once been a super hero. Although Jaelyn’s mother rarely spoke of her days flying above the city and battling evil under the guise of “Cosmo Girl”, she never let Jae forget that she had once been a hero. Jae had spent most of her life gathering the subtle hints of her mother’s former life from gleaned conversations and those rare nights where a few too many drinks loosened her mother’s lips. The costume, a uniform Jae had only ever seen her mother wear in newspaper clips and old photographs, stood as a silent reminder to both of them of the mistakes of youth.

Jae felt a shudder of distain rush down her spine as she forced herself to look away from the dimly lit costume case. She tried not to categorize herself into that small bubble of Tig’nara Hart’s youthful mistakes, but Jaelyn knew deep down that her own existence was a matter of painful regret to Tig’nara. There were times when Jaelyn would feel her mother’s piteous gaze fall heavily on her, if only for a moment, and left Jae bereft with a sense of shame. When she was much younger, Jae would beg her mother endlessly to reveal the identity of her father to Jaelyn, but Tig’nara’s resolute answer was always the same, “When you are ready.” As she grew, Jae realized that Tig’nara wasn’t waiting for a time when Jaelyn was ready to accept the truth of her own origins, but for the time when the truth would no longer grieve Tig’nara.

Jae turned away from the rain drenched cityscape and moved back to the table. Jae ripped the paper from her binder and crumpled it between her hands with disgust. The words rolled through her head again, biting at her.

We use to believe in heroes, Jae thought cynically to herself again, now I wonder if we forgot about them, or did they give up on us? The metal lid of the trashcan flipped open with clean sufficiency as Jae dropped the crumpled paper into its polished depths. She let the lid drop with a resounding bang that echoed through the empty penthouse like a cry in a tomb.

Lost Haven - The Prelude

The full moon hung heavy in the August night’s sky, pregnant with unfulfilled promises. The night held its breath as tension crackled through the streets of Haven like bottled lightning.

High above the city, bathed in the silvery-blue moon fire, a lone figure peered out of the boiling cityscape. Search lights stabbed through the night, swimming over the empty eyed windows of Haven’s skyscrapers. Acidic smoke, thick and cloy, filled the air as flames licked the night skyline with hungry, red tongues. The roar of police cruisers and bellowing fire alarms echoed through the streets in broken, pitiful wails. The cries of a desperate city.

The figure’s aquatic blue eyes moved swiftly over the withered cityscape while she drew in a shaky breath. Her heart beat a tattoo against her ribcage, threatening to jump out her chest and hurtle itself down thirty stories to the heat backed concrete below. With trembling fingers she touched the blue domino mask over her eyes, checking its sturdiness once more. The mask held with the same sturdiness it had shown the half dozen other times she’d worried over it.

Somewhere below her perch on the building’s ledge a police cruiser exploded, throwing shrapnel skyward with a blossoming mushroom cloud. An inhuman roar rose up from below her position, sending a shiver of dread coursing down her spine.

The young woman rose up from her crouch, her nerves thrumming with anticipation as she uncoiled the rope wound about her narrow waist. Spreading her stance and balancing her weight on the balls of her feet, she drew a final shaky breath in through her teeth,

“Alright Jae, just like he taught you,” she murmured to herself reassuringly as she swung the grappling line around in a wind spinning arch. She let the grappling swing out as it reached its zenith and flew out into the dark. She felt the grapple’s hooks catch and felt the line go taut with a burst of satisfaction. Gripping the line firmly between her gauntleted hands, she let go of the silent prayer she’d been holding in her breast and leapt into the air.