Sentinel Hawk had run into the person that was once Joey and there had found that there was simply nothing left of the boy she'd very nearly fallen in love with. She was flying at mach eight by the time she reached Gothic City and decelerated only gradually. Eventually she arrived at her destination, a shop that sold grave stones. There she wordlessly purchased a grave marker with some of her gold and flew it out to the Gothic City cemetery. She spent the next three hours walking with it through the cemetery, looking for the perfect place for it. Eventually she found one, a little hill that overlooked most of the cemetery and also had a nice view out into the city. Once there she placed the stone at the center most portion of the top of the hill and knelt down. There she turned her mace into an Engraving tool and spent several hours carefully etching words into the stone. When this task was done she dug a small hole in the ground with her bare hands, unconcerned with the blood that occasionally escaped her finger tips from digging through almost a foot of dirt and rock. Once she was satisfied with the hole she took something else she'd brought with him...a small box of Joey's prized possessions. The box was Nth Metal, carefully crafted...it was going to be a present she was going to give him but...

Munoz took her helmet off and set it to one side and opened the box, making sure everything she wanted it to contain had been placed inside. By this point tears were running down her cheeks pretty freely. She tried to smile when she found his favorite comic but nothing came to her face. She slipped it into a protective cover and placed it back in the box. I know you'd want it to stay safe. Here's your Costume too, the one you had specially made to look like the Champion's. You might... She couldn't finish her thoughts as the last bit of her incredible Hawk Lord will broke and she lay down next to the box and the hole in the ground and cried uncontrollably onto her arm.

It didn't matter to her that there was no body...the Joey Beckham that had taught her to date, that had once helped her through hard times at Barnes Academy, the boy that loved video games and comic books and a girlfriend that also enjoyed both...he was gone. No amount of optimism, no amount of her healing blood, none of it, could ever bring him back. That was for her the worst part. She was a healer and protector and she had failed to protect the one person outside of her own family that meant so much to her. Instead they'd argued and he'd disappeared...and now he was gone.

Sentinel Hawk pulled the shirt of his costume out of the box and hugged it to her body, hoping the tears and uncontrolled crying might eventually go away. They did eventually...more than an hour later. She managed to collect herself enough to act again and put his costume back in the box. I'm sorry Joey...you were so proud of this when you got it, I can't keep it. I have...I have other things but this is all yours. I hope you get to wear it again in whatever after life there is for you. I promise no matter how many life times I live, I will never forget you. She closed the Nth Metal box and it sealed shut. Sentinel Hawk took a deep breath, sniffing and wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. She put the box in the hole she'd dug with her bare hands and then filled the dirt back in, gently patting it down until it was a nice and neat little lump in the ground. Munoz stood and backed away from the body-less grave and studied the tombstone in silence.

Munoz eventually turned away from the grave as darkness fell and walked out of the cemetery. She didn't know where she was going...but she couldn't stay there anymore. She had always told herself she hadn't fallen in love with him but she knew better now. Her one chance for this life time was dead.

Joey Beckham: Super Hero and Cherished Partner