HawkPen and HawkWopen

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Prologue

By- Jack Guardings

Hi, my name is Jack. I don’t have any clue how this happened and that’s pretty much it. I think it all started when I moved from Dallas to California. I was sitting in the back of my mom’s station wagon listening to her and my father talk about what I should do when I get into my new high school. I didn’t really care to listen to them, so I put on my hand-me-down headphones that my younger brother had “given” me. I played the first song that came up, “Happy Together” by Gerard Way and Ray Toro.

Imagine me and you, I do

I think about you day and night, it’s only right

To think about the girl you love and hold her tight 

So happy together

It was then that I cried, I missed him so much.

HawkPen and HawkWoPen

By: SF_THRAWN

The Donner School of- What?

By – Jack Guardings

Day one, I couldn’t be better. My room was unpacked and I had been accepted onto the football team as a Quarterback. I had heard good things about Donner High, so I was pretty hyped. (As much as you can be for school) Over the announcements the principal notified all the students about an upcoming assembly for the beginning of the year. 

“Right after homeroom the student body shall report to the auditorium immediately for an assembly that will go over the following: Dance, Sports, and,” She took a deep sigh, “The origami at DC.”

I was a little confused at the last bit, but it appeared to be all too familiar to the other students. 

“I wouldn’t worry about it.” A girl next to me said. She looked like Elisabeth Moss.

“Why is that?” I asked.

“It’s classified as ‘Arts and crafts’ and, honestly, I’m glad that it happens at our school.”

“Again, why is that?”

“Simple, according to studies, stuff like that relieves stress.”

“How do you know so much?”

“Wow, way to shoot your shot.”

“What?”

Assembly

By- Jill Truman

Let me tell you this up front: I love Donner, not many people know it’s history, but trust me, it’s rich. You can feel it in the walls, floors and especially the people. More recently, the people have been ‘evolving’ more often than they did in the past, I have heard more about DC from the P.A. system and the chatter in the hallways than I do from my nerdy brother, and that’s saying something. Honestly, it’s kinda frightening because once I saw this kid have an allergic reaction to peanut butter flavored flex glue over Superman (Or, I think that’s what it was about,) and so far I have steered pretty clear, but something tells me that’s all going to change.

The assembly started like all other Donner ones. They played some non-copyright music that sounded very close to a song by Guns and Roses and the dance group came out and did whatever their thing was. 

“Hey, so I never got your name,” The person from earlier said.

I looked up at him as he sat down, he sort of looked like a young Tom Welling while he was still doing Smallville.

“You never told me yours.” I said. 

“Sorry about that. My name is Jack Guardings.” Jack said.

“Well, Jack, my name is Jill. It’s nice to meet you.”

We were both waiting for the dance to be over.

“Thank you, Donner Dance… for that interesting interpretation of the crashing of the Hindenburg…” The principal said over the mic “Now Sports!”

The football coach then got up to the mic and started his loud tirade about how he was looking forward to the new year which somehow led into him proclaiming that football was not for idiots.

“So if you could please stop signing up the tennis people that would be great. Now would the new Quarterback please stand up!”

 Next to me I could feel Jack get up.

“Everybody, can you please give a round of applause to the 2020- 2021 Quarterback Jack Guardings! And, oh boy. The newest cheerleader, Jill Truman!”

It was at this moment that I realized I REALLY hated life.

Fate, is That You?

By- Jill Truman

My knees felt weak and my vision started to get really blurry, I could hardly hear what was going on and I could feel my body leaning forward and then before I was about to fall I felt a hand reach out.

“You ok?” Jack asked.

“Yeah, I’m good.” I said solemnly.

I had no clue that everyone was looking. When I regained my composure I solemnly held up my hand and waved to the crowd. After the teachers told us to sit down I leaned over to Jack.

“What was that about?” I whispered.

“I think it’s called ‘improv’ and you’re welcome.” He said.

Then the assembly started to continue.

“Now, on to the most important thing we need to address: origami. We know that you are very excited that you are expressing yourself and the DC trip proved that. But you all need a way to self regulate, so in the coming days more information will be released to you, the students, about a plan that we have. That is all, have a good first day!”

I had no idea what had just happened, I honestly thought that she would just shut everything down and claim that it ‘messed with copyrights’ or something like that, but I guess an endorsement is pretty good. Although Jack seemed pretty shaken up, I wonder what that’s about.

History

By- Jack Guardings

What do the nation’s capital, me and hawks have in common? Well, I shall tell you: my younger brother. The crazy fool can’t keep himself out of trouble. I love him but sometimes he can be too much.

The assembly today hit a little too close to home and to be honest i’m a little shaken up. When I moved here I planned on not talking about DC, but what goes around comes around, I guess. Let me backtrack a little. It was 2012 and I was in middle school, my brother was in elementary. One day I was following my little brother because he wanted to show me something at Barnes and Nobles, then a few older kids came running at us for some reason, so we booked it into the store. I look back to see them following us inside, so I grab my brother’s hand and hide, but soon enough they find us and right as we are about to get pummeled, a group of adults notice and call security. As we were about to leave I felt him tug at my sleeve and then I remembered why we were there. So I let go and follow him. It turns out that he had been reading these graphic novels by, you guessed it, DC. 

Then, in 2018 we decided to go to Dallas Comic-Con and it was at this time that my brother would discover his favorite hero, HawkMan. The only thing I really remember about that day was standing next to him as he scoured through long boxes looking for cheap issues and reprints.

I walked into the house, still thinking about the assembly. Suddenly I was pulled out of my daze when my mom yelled at me.

“Hey Jack, do you want to keep your brother’s comics?”

“Yeah, Just put them on my bed.” I said as I wiped a tear off my cheek.

Rats and Refs

By- Connor Talon

I was once the best, I excelled in all my classes and I was the star of the football team. I loved my life, I rarely got into fights and no one knew about my ‘luck’. But all good things have to come to an end because soon enough, people found out that I was cheating by paying the refs and forcing people to draw a blind eye. 

I was furious when it was announced that this random Texas nobody would be taking my rightful spot on the team! But it’s no worry because I have a plan- I always have a plan. The people of the school love DC and origami stuff, right? So ,what if I make it look like I’m the hero? (flawless, I know). I knew where to find the nerds with all the right information. After a while of threatening them with atomic wedgies I finally got the information I needed. So, be on the lookout Donner because your newest hero Creasar Thal is coming to a football field near you!

Clipped Wings.

By – Jack Guardings

It was Friday and I was about to have my first game. Apparently, there is this ritual that the new Quarterback has to do where they take the school mascot’s head and fill the nose with birdseed so that when they try to give their announcement it just comes out as garbled nothings. I was inches away from the closet where it is kept when I heard a voice.

“Man, this is such a good plan” Someone said, followed by a bunch of scratching and tape noises. 

I barged in to see Connor Talon sticking tape onto my bottle, peeling off the prints and then sticking them onto a bottle of pain-killers, he wanted to make it look like I was cheating. I slammed the pills to the ground and grabbed him by his collar, hoisting him to eye level.

“Explain yourself!” I yelled.

“No!” He said while holding up a Corsar Thal paper puppet.

“Cute.” I said as I plucked the puppet off his finger.

“No, it’s menacing!”

I promptly threw him to the ground. I was leaving the closet when I saw the face of Jill and the head coach.

“Do you mind telling me what you were doing in there?” He asked.

“Sure, just give him a second.”

As if on cue Connor stumbled out, looked at us and ran away.

“This isn’t over!” He yelled over his shoulder.

“We are going to need to re-schedule.” The coach said as he walked off.

“What did he do?” Jill asked

“He tried to frame me.” I said while fiddling with the puppet.

“Whoa, when did you make that?” Jill asked.

“He had it on him.”

“Do you know what this means?”

“Not a clue.”

“We have our first official villain!”

“Cool?”

Birds of A Feather Fly Together

By- Jill Truman

I know that I should not be excited about having a personal villain but it was just so cool! I wonder what my puppet should be though, maybe Jack will have something to say.

“So, what do you think our puppets should be?” I asked.

“Honestly, I’m not worried about that right now.”

“Understandable,” I said “But if you could pick one?”

“Well, he had a Corsar Thal ‘Puppet’ so HawkMan?”

This was going to be great! We would be the perfect pair, HawkMan and HawkWoman. I immediately got to work on the puppets after the coach had officially announced that the game would be postponed. I had no clue what he wanted his puppet to look lik,e so I just did his mask thing with a mouth. For mine I knew that I wanted the puppet to look as real as possible so I based it on the Legends of Tomorrow appearance, I hope that the kids at Lampert won’t get mad, or steal me for that matter…

It was now Monday afternoon and the big game was upon us, the newly rebranded Donner Hawks versus Lampert Lions. We had our first Creasar Thal sighting during the pre-game, he was slinking around the back of the gym holding a newly folded puppet. (Honestly for an Ex-Quarterback, he is acting like a dork) I had Jack’s HawkMan puppet in a plastic baggie and I was about to give it to him when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“We need to talk, sister.” Someone said.

I turned around and punched them in the jaw.

“Ok, fair enough, broskie. That’s… dang.” He said while clutching his face.

“Explain yourself.” I told him.

“My name is JC Russell… and I have come to warn you and Jack Guardings.” 

“Why?”

“I have a feeling that Connor is going to change Jack’s life tonight, in a bad way.” He acted all mysterious, but he seemed like a goofball.

“Ok, I’ll let him know.”

I finally found Jack sitting on the sidelines, looking at his helmet, doing some ritual. He was looking at his helmet while whispering something.

“I’m doing this for you.” He finished.

“Hey Jack,” I said “I made it.”

I handed him HawkMan.

“Thanks.” He said as he slipped it into his pocket. Then he stood up and put on the gold helmet.

The crowd cheered as he got onto the field, but there was already someone out there waiting for him: Connor Talon. He started to spin around a chain that he had been holding. Jack then charged him, sending him flying to the ground. Connor then released the chain, tying his feet together. He got up and brushed the grass off and started to advance towards Connor slowly, Connor then responded by charging at him. He caught Conner in a headlock, tossing him over his shoulder. Then, in a desperate move, Conner kicked Jack’s legs out from under him and he fell down, hard. He then stood over Jack and delivered the final blow, he was out.

Thanagar

By- Jack Guardner

I woke up in the same patch of grass that I had been knocked out on, except I wasn’t on the field. I was in a room, the walls were eggshell white and there was a large oval shape looking glass dead-ahead with a fairly tall figure standing in front of it.

“Nice of you to make it, brother” The figure said. He turned around and I looked at the grown face of my younger brother. The same brother who had died 1 year ago.

I walked up to him and looked at his face.

“Are you ok?” He asked “You look like you have seen a ghost.”

“I- its just-” I stuttered out.

“I’m just messing with you.” He said while he stared out. “Glorious, isn’t it?”

I looked out to see the alien skyline of Thanagar, the true home of HawkMan.

“Brother,” He said as he placed his hand on my shoulder “Do you remember our last moment together? It was on a Thursday in Spring during 2018, and you had not told anyone but your crush because you thought that would make you two closer; and the next day she threw a get-together to raise money for me?” He had started to chuckle. 

“Anyways, it was during the middle of all that when you get a call from the Principal telling you that you’re dismissed. You ran to the car and hopped in as Mom and Dad sped off to the hospital so that you could see me.” He had started to cry but he was smiling, like he was finally at rest.

“The saddest moment of my entire life was knowing that you were going to see me die. You came in slowly and smiled and the doctor just looked mortified, but I knew that it was because you were happy to see me. You put in my old earbuds and played my favorite song, what was it again?”

“‘Happy Together’ by Gerard Way and Ray Toro.” I said, my eyes watering.

“I could not hear the heart monitor, but I could tell by your reaction that it had stopped and in those last ten minutes as my life flashed before my eyes, I realised one thing that I didn’t once tell you.”

“And that is?” I asked while trying to hold back tears.

“I love you.”

I bursted back to life on the field, a crowd had gathered around me and I was hoisted up. I was pushing my way through the crowd when I finally saw Jill, she was beating on Conner but he just looked like he was enjoying himself. I tore my helmet off and grabbed the chain off the ground. While Jill was beating down on Conner he finally noticed me and in a mix of shock and awe he backed up, bumping into the field goal post. I grabbed him by his chest and forced him to sit down as I chained him up. 

“How?” He asked.

“None of your business.” I said as I punched him in the gut. He keeled over, making a hawkish squeal.

Epilogue

By- Jill Truman

I hugged Jack, he was looking fairly somber for a dude with a concussion. I noticed a single tear on his cheek but I decided not to ask.

“Hey dudes, let’s have a chat.” JC said.

“Who are you?” Jack asked.

“My name is JC, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.”

“He warned me that something was going to happen to you.” I told Jack.

“You will face many perils, primarily social.” He said.

As if we were instructed to do so we held up HawkWoman and HawkMan.

“Ah, cool.” JC said

“What are your names, noble sports-people; I… I’ve been swimming all of my life and I still don’t know what we call each other. Anyways, what do I call you?” His puppet, Aquapleat asked.

“HawkMan and HawkWoman.” Our puppets said together.

“That’s not going to work,” JC said “Oh, I got it! How about…”

HawkPen and HawkWoPen Will Return!

Click here to read “Martian ManShredder”

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