The Shit-town Saga:

Midnight Rider part 5

Emily Kobowski was startled awake by a loud knocking on her apartment door and when she peered through the peep hole, she saw a familiar black helmet slouched against her door. “Cav?,” she exclaimed and opened the door, ready to catch him as he stumbled into the room.

“Shit, what happened?,” she asked as she kicked the door closed while propping him up.

“Got in a fight,” he told her wearily while she moved him across the room.

“I noticed.”

“My right shoulder is dislocated after a fall from an overpass. I would move it back in place myself but the armor gets in the way,” he informed her as she she laid him onto the couch carefully. He let out a pained groan before continuing, “And I can’t take it off with one hand.”

“I get it. Let me help.”

Michael talked her through the process of removing the outer plates before helping him out of the body stocking. It was a slow and painful process and between instructions, Michael told her about the Horseman and the dirty cops. By the time he was bare chested, he was finished telling Emily about the events of the night. “Well, that all sounds terrible,” she placed one hand on his shoulder and another on his shoulder blade, “Speaking of terrible,… this is gonna hurt like a mother,” she pressed, relocating his shoulder with a distinct popping sound. He grunted loudly and took the ice pack she gingerly handed him. It was then that he finally took a look at his torso and saw it covered in bruises. He was able to keep his helmet on to conceal his identity but he wondered what his face looked like.

“There’s bruising but I don’t see swelling or anything,” Emily said as she examines his ribs, “Any trouble breathing? Nausea? Stuff like that?”

“No… just a shit ton of pain.”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt it,” she stood up, “Nothing seems broken and there doesn’t appear to be any internal injuries. Keep in mine, I’m only first-aid certified so it’s not like I’m a nurse or anything.”

“If I start coughing up blood, I’ll go to the hospital, thanks.”

“The fact that your armor is slightly ill-fitting might’ve saved you since there were some gaps between the plates and your body. The suit did a great job absorbing most of it. You’re lucky.”

He nodded his head and in a sarcastic tone said, “Yeah, I feel very lucky.”

“Is there anything I can do?,” she asked sincerely, “I mean, besides getting you pain killers and a ride to wherever you need to be?”

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m willing to bet there’s a big, fat arrest warrant out there for me. If you get involved any more than you already have, you might have a warrant as well.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time I had trouble with cops,” she sat in the chair opposite of him.

“No offense but I don’t think you’ve ever had this kind of trouble. It’s not just cops in the city, either. It feels like half the cops on the East Coast are after me.”

“So… what about Number Three?”

“What?”

“Y’know, like how Paul used call you guys? You’re Cavalier Number Four, the one he met as a kid was Number Two…”

“Oh,… Right,” Michael was reminded of the heated conversation he had with his father and tried to deflect from the conversation as much as possible, “He’s retired and I’d rather not show up at his doorstep with a dislocated shoulder. The Commission is kind of out of the question when it comes to immediate help as none of them live in the city and I don’t know really know anyone else so it kinda leaves you and the Knights.”

“I’m more than willing to help,” she told him, “I was just wondering. With the shit that’s happened to this city and the trouble you’re in, I was worried is all.”

“Yeah, well, it’s good to have allies.”

“Don’t mention it. After Paul passed away… I wanna keep as many friends around as I can.”

Commissioner Reins walked into the ER where a number of police officers either stood watch or came to check up on their injured peers. As Reins moved through the hall, he quickly found a vending machine and peered through the glass window at the variety of snacks being offered.

“It happened sooner than expected,” Gabi Mendoza leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, “But it happened. The Cavalier put a bunch of our men in the hospital.”

Reins found a candy bar of his liking and placed some change into the machine, “Many of them were in the area due to an ongoing investigation involving the Triads,” he punched his order into the keypad, “But not all of them were assigned to that location. They just happened to be there anyway,” the snack slid from the mechanical rings in the vending machine and fell into the dispenser, “That should be enough for an investigation. Have you asked questions? Drake is in surgery right now but I’m sure you can get info from the others.”

“I asked questions,” Mendoza nodded, “And you will be interested to know that some of your boys were not where they were supposed to be tonight… including one guy who wasn’t even from your precinct.” Reins took the snack from the vending machine and straightened up curiously, ready for what Mendoza had to say next, “He was an officer from Atlantic City.”

“New Jersey?”

Mendoza checked the hallway for eavesdropping, “He’s in the ER with a twisted knee and the wrong uniform with no badge. Big dude. He was doing a ride-along, supposedly, but didn’t have a good excuse for why he’s in the city. Your suspicions may be correct as I suspect he was there for added muscle in case your buddy showed up. The Horseman likely has a network. One that, at the very least, extends between two states.”

“I feel like you’re about to use a conjunction…”

“But…”

“There it is.”

“As it’s now out-of-state, it’s federal. Going back to your buddy in the knight armor… you won’t be able to protect him. He put cops in the hospital tonight and I’m sure the DA is waiting to nail his ass to the wall and I doubt the FBI is gonna have much sympathy. It’s probably not a good idea to associate with him closely if you wanna keep your job.”

“Noted,” Reins took a bite of his snack, “Let’s just hope Cav knows the level of shit he’s in now.”

The next morning, Arthur Hawkwood walked into the gym, hoping for a pickle ball match but found all his partners crowded around a single phone. “Can you believe this guy?,” one of the elderly men said aloud, “Total animal.” Another older man nodded in agreement, “An absolute psycho.”

“What’s going on?,” Arthur asked as he approached.

“Did you see this, Artie?,” one of the players held up his phone, “The Cavalier attacked a bunch of cops last night.” Arthur watched in horror as he witnessed his son getting beaten in the middle of a street before climbing to his feet and delivering serious injuries. It was all obviously in self-defense but he knew from the looks on his partners’ faces, they believed otherwise.

“What…,” Arthur tried his best to maintain his composure, “Does anyone know what happened? Is the Cavalier arrested or…?”

“They said he got away,” someone answered, “The video was sent into some news outlets anonymously. The District Attorney’s office is looking into it.”

Someone else chimed in, “And there was an explosion nearby too. They think Cavalier had something to do with it.”

Arthur cleared his throat, “Well, we don’t know the context, so we shouldn’t…”

“What context do you need, Artie? That psychopath damn near sliced off a cop’s foot.”

Arthur felt his temper rise, “We don’t know the extent of the damage done.”

“I can’t believe this. He sells out Rex Robinson, then goes off, attacking cops,” one of the older ladies shook her head, “Who does that?”

“What about that Horseman maniac?,” Arthur tried to shift the conversation, “What’s his deal?”

“I don’t see him beating up any cops,” one of the old men shrugged, “And I know for a fact he was seen helping National Guard fight the aliens here in the city. What was the Cavalier doing?”

“Selling out Rex Robinson,” the old woman repeated bitterly, “Call me a conspiracy theorist but it wouldn’t surprise me if the Cavalier was an alien. He could be anyone under that mask, we don’t know.”

“I don’t have time for this, I thought we were playing ball,” Arthur spun around and started back toward the door when Mariah showed up with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder and a happy expression. “Hey, Artie. Ready for another -?,” she began to greet him but he hurried off, barely looking at her as he said, “Sorry, Mariah. I’m not feeling too good today.”

Michael painfully lowered himself into a bathtub full of ice. Once he got home, he noticed a red bruise across his face from the baton strike across the helmet as well as bruising around his orbital socket which could have been from any number of attacks. The shoulder was still severely bruised and painful to move as evident by the sharp sting he felt when he reached for a bottle of pain killers. He thought of some excuses to use in case anyone in his social life asked questions about the visible bruises but then he realized he didn’t have a social life. Then came the sound of his door being opened which startled him until he heard his father’s voice, “Mike? It’s Dad! Are ya here?”

“In the bathroom,” he called out tiredly.

Arthur rushed into the room and took one look at his son, “Jesus Christ.”

“Guess I’m in trouble, huh?”

Arthur knelt down by the tub, “I’m just glad you’re still alive.”

“Wait until you find out the Knight-cycle got blown to pieces.”

Arthur ignored the comment and looked him over, “Are you in pain? Anything broken? Do you need me to contact anyone?”

“Nothing’s broken but my shoulder was dislocated. I went to the Metro Knights to get patched up.”

“But Paul Kwon passed away.”

“Remember Emily Kobowski? She’s in charge of things now and she helped reset my shoulder.”

“I see,” Arthur rested against the sink cabinets and ran his hand through his hair, “On the way here, I heard the DA making a public statement. Seems like she’s on the warpath and if that’s the case, I’m not sure Commissioner Reins could be much help.”

“I saw that, yeah,” Michael sank a little further in the tub, “But my first priority is to lure the Horseman out and finally -”

“Mike…”

“Don’t worry. I already know Reins turned this over to Internal Affairs. The DA and maybe the feds are after me but I also know there’s too much heat for any dirty cops to come out of the woodwork which means the Horseman will be all alone and I know where his hideout is.”

“I’m sure of it… but it goes without saying I’m worried about you. Seeing you beat up like this…”

“It was a bad night but to be fair, I remember you having more than one.”

“What do you mean?”

“You and mom tried to hide it from me but I saw the cuts and bruises. I absolutely remember, not long after we lost mom, when that one guy knocked you through the wall of a bank… y’know the guy Ryan Bennings shot into space?”

“The Energizer.”

“Yeah, that guy. You had a broken arm and Rex had to patch you up with a special cast under the suit. But I wasn’t worried because I knew that, no matter what happened, you’d handle it.”

“What happened to all that Hawkwood Curse talk?”

“I dunno. Maybe it’s real and maybe it isn’t. If I’m being honest, if I die while protecting people, I find it acceptable. It’s not like I have any close friends, my business isn’t doing all that great and I’m not married,… I’m not even seeing anyone.”

“But you have me,” Arthur said hopefully.

“Always,” he placed a hand on his father’s shoulder, “I’m sorry about being an ass to you, Dad. I should’ve never kept this from you but the fact of the matter is, the city has been blown to shit and someone has to help rebuild.”

Arthur hung his head in defeat, “I’m not gonna try to convince you to quit because I know you won’t listen. Part of me wishes you would just crawl into bed and we would both forget about this whole Cavalier mess but that other part… that part knows exactly how you’re feeling right now and God help me, that part even agrees with you,” he lifted his head sadly, “Who knows… maybe we are cursed.”

Michael smiled and placed a tender hand on the back of Arthur’s neck, “If there is a curse, at least we’re cursed together,” he then placed his forehead against his father’s.

Continued…