Chapter Text
Hawk and Forge were on a mission.
Then again, Hawk and Forge were always on a mission. Hawk couldn't remember the last time she'd done anything for herself bar eat and sleep, and even in her dreams, she was still following orders, still working, still fighting. Still on a mission.
There were other teams in the Resistance who were stronger than they were, and other teams who were smarter, but there wasn't a single team more passionate than Will Forge and Umbral Hawk.
And you had to be passionate for a operation like this. They'd been charged with a week long stake-out. Spending seven straight days perched on top of an apartment block watching low-grade office clerks scurrying back and forth so that they could work out when was the best moment to break in was more tedious than watching Astro Turf grow.
They needed to steal some paperwork. Evidence of the latest atrocity Cole's regime had committed against its people, from what they understood. Get in, grab the papers, and get out with as little fuss as possible.
Oh, and plant a bomb. A time-delayed device strong enough to reduce the building to dust and small enough to hide in the sole of her boot. But that was Hawk's mission and Hawk's alone.
Forge was too good to do something like that. She believed in a world where if you told people the right information and fought back only when necessary, good will win and things will turn out right. She was too noble, too kind, too... just too good to do something like this.
Hawk was not. Never had been. Never would.
The sunset had just faded to the deep blue-black of night and a chill breeze was beginning to pick up. Cold didn't usually phase either of them – Forge's ability to augment her body through sheer willpower made her mildly resistant to the elements, and Hawk had the ability to create fire at will – but four days of bleak rooftops had taken their toll. Hawk was thoroughly fed up, and urging by the way Forge was wrapped up in her cape like a small kid in a blanket with a glum expression on her face, she wasn't doing much better.
Time for a pick-me-up.
Hawk got to her feet and stretched with a yawn.
"You okay here by yourself for a bit while I go do something?"
"Depends. What kind of 'something' are we talking about?"
Her voice housed an edge of suspicion that cut into Hawk like cheese-wire to the throat, but it was hardly unwarranted. How many times had she excused herself and run off to do something that would make Forge ashamed of her? More times than she could count, and definitely more than Forge knew. She'd let slip maybe a handful of times and there had been dozens.
Not this time, though.
"Nothing like that. I'll be back in fifteen minutes. Twenty tops. Okay?"
There was a pause. Then Forge smiled, and although her face was pale and pinched with tiredness and the shadows under her eyes looked like a matching pair of bruises, it was warm and trusting and as painful as a slug to the gut with a baseball bat.
"Okay."
Hawk forced herself to smile back, and managed to produce something that resembled a smile – a thin, wan smile, but a smile nonetheless.
"I'll be back."
Hawk swung herself down over the edge of the building and onto the fire escape. It was so much easier for Forge – she could freaking fly – but enhanced speed had its charms too, even if running faster than any normal human was meant to did make the fire escape rattle louder than a saucepan collection in a tumble dryer.
When she hit street level, she shrunk back into the shadows before anybody could spot her. On a normal day, she wouldn't have cared – she could run faster than any of Cole's thugs and even if she couldn't, she had the power of fire at her fingertips and a shield of electricity crackling around her. But they couldn't afford to let slip their watching post. It would screw the pooch on the entire operation.
So it was time to go incognito instead.
Hawk tapped the hawk's head symbol on her chest and her red and navy bodysuit, boots, cape and mask melted away into a button-down blouse, slacks, sensible shoes and the sort of spectacles normally associated with severe, bun-wearing librarians. She'd invented it herself, although she wasn't sure how it worked. Alchemy was like that. Some of the time it did nothing, and some of the time it created something useful but you didn't know how, and some of the time it completely blew up in your face and left you with super-powers.
It was unpredictable like that.
It had been Umbral Hawk stepping into the shadows, but it was harmless civilian Nichola Falcon who walked out.
The streets were almost entirely empty. There were few civilians and even fewer supers, although now and then a masked or cloaked figure would land nearby then leap away, or dart across at super speed, or swoop past overhead like a giant bat.
Hawk stared down at the sidewalk and rounded her shoulders and tried her best to look like a normal harmless citizen, but try as she might, she couldn't pull it off. She had too much confidence in her walk. She moved that little bit too fast. She didn't avert her gaze quickly enough when other people looked at her.
But then she'd never been good at fitting in.
She reached her destination inside half an hour. The costume changed lasted sixty minutes at most and she needed to be in and out before she changed back or she'd be in a world of trouble.
Pizzeria Benvolio was deserted except for the teenager behind the counter, a short and portly young man with an acne-riddled face who was dancing along to the obnoxious disco music emanating from a nearby portable radio.
His name was Benny, short for Benvolio Gentile III, grandson of the restaurant's titular Benvolio. Way back when Umbral Hawk was Nichola Falcon and she still had parents and a normal life, she'd found Benny being beaten up by a bunch of older kids when walking home from school and had saved him. He'd promised to pay her back and ever since, she'd eaten at Pizzeria Benvolio for free.
Benny didn't look up when Hawk walked in. She had to clear her throat loudly before he swung around, frozen and blushed redder than any human being had a right to be.
"Nicky! Aw man, you didn't see me dancing, did you?"
"Every second of it, Benny."
"Oh jeez. It just... I get bored when it gets quiet around here, you know?"
"Truly you are the Lord of the Dance."
"Oh shut up!" He laughed. "What can I get ya?"
Hawk faltered. She had absolutely no idea whether Forge had eaten a pizza before in her life, let alone what toppings she liked. And Hawk wasn't exactly adventurous when it came to her pizza. Food was fuel: as long as it was edible, she didn't care.
"Uh, large deep-pan pizza, plain cheese?"
"Sure, coming right up."
They chatted while Benny stretched out the prepared dough for the base, spread on the tomato sauce, scattered over liberal amounts of cheese and slid the pizza into the oven to bake. He was doing well in school. His older sister was learning the ropes at the shop. His dad wanted him to join the family business full-time, but he wanted to do something better with himself.
Benny leant his elbows on the counter and stared dreamily into space.
"I just want to make a difference, you know? Help people."
"I know what you mean."
"Can I tell you what I really want to do?"
"Sure."
"I want to join the PPD."
Hawk's stomach gave a twist and her throat clamped shut. Words refused to come and she nodded instead and made a non-committal noise.
"Yeah, I know it's silly, but I think I could do it if I put in the effort. Do you think I could?"
He could. Hawk could see it. In two or three years, he could easily be a jack-booted brute, blinded by Cole, poisoned by the environment, desperately believing he was helping while stamping on the face of a teenage girl before the bodies of her parents had even gone cold.
"Sure," Hawk croaked. "Wish you well."
Benny's face flushed with the faint praise. "Aw thanks, Nicky! I knew you'd believe in me!"
They talked about his family and their misadventures until the pizza was done. Hawk avoided talking about herself and what she was doing as much as possible and resisted the urge to check her watch. It didn't tell the time, but it did say how long it was before her costume would change back.
And she didn't want to change back in front of Benny. Not now, not ever.
Resistance members had a price on their head. And what better way to start your PPD career than by arresting Umbral Hawk, terrorist and murderer?
Benny transferred the steaming pizza from the oven to a cardboard box and the box to a carrier bag.
"On the house as usual, Nicky. See you again soon, yeah?"
"Sure, Benny. See you soon."
Hawk walked as slowly as she could muster from the shop, then darted into the nearest shadows moments before her street clothes morphed back into her costume. She could wait, let the costume function recharge and then make her way back, but why bother? Why should she care if anyone spotted her now?
What difference would it make?
They all believed. They gorged at the trough of Cole's lies like pigs and they all believed every word he said. What was the point in hiding?
Besides, she had super speed. Nobody would notice her.
She was back at their stake-out building in less time than it took to boil an egg. She took the stairs two at a time and was up top in no time, although again it was unpleasantly loud. She should really invent something that would negate the noise. Some sort of special boot, perhaps.
Unsurprisingly, Forge had heard her coming. She was still huddled up in her cape and her expression was somewhere between happiness that Hawk was back and anxiety.
"Welcome back."
Hawk held up the plastic bag awkwardly.
"I, uh, brought pizza?"
All traces of anxiety vanished from Forge's face. She leapt to her feet, all but glowing, perhaps actually glowing – she did that sometimes; it was part of her willpower thing.
"No way! Really?"
"It's just plain cheese. I'm kinda boring when it comes to my–"
"I honestly don't care. It's pizza! I've never had pizza!"
"... you haven't?"
"Nope."
Hawk and Forge settled back down in their respective spots on the roof. Hawk set up the pizza box between them and opened it and both of them took a slice each and tucked in.
It was good pizza. Just the rick thickness of crust, not greasy, good ingredients. It should have been awesome. But with every bite, Hawk could taste the words "I want to join the PPD" and it made her feel queasy.
Nothing seem to be bothering Forge, though. She was tucking in as though she'd never eaten before in her life.
"You are an absolute life-saver, Hawk. This is great. Where'd you even get it?"
"I know people."
Night had properly fallen and the twilight shift had begun in the building across the street. The night guards were patrolling, little specks of flashlight gleam patrolling back and forth. Normally there were six or seven, but tonight, there seemed to be just the three. Maybe the others were sick, or maybe they didn't expect a Thursday to be particularly busy.
Hawk swallowed the last mouthful of her slice and looked over to Forge.
"I know we're supposed to be watching for another three days, but look. When's an opportunity like this gonna come round again?"
Forge swallowed the third bite of her fourth slice and nodded.
"Pizza first, then the mission. They'll be all alert and jumpy at the moment, anyway. We'll give 'em a couple of hours to calm down, then go for it."
"I can't eat any more. Not that hungry."
"You sure? Feeling okay?"
No, she wasn't feeling okay. She hadn't been feeling okay since she was fourteen years old and the PPD had smashed their way into their house and left Nichola Falcon lying dead on the floor with her parents, but she was feeling particularly bad now.
There was a bomb in the heel of her boot. It would destroy the building entirely. It would send a message to Cole and to the people and let them know that things were not okay. Things would never be okay. Not if they stayed like this.
Forge would know, though. Forge would know it was her who'd done it. And Forge would be angry and hurt and disappointed and agonisingly forgiving because it was Hawk and Forge believed in a Hawk that didn't exist, couldn't exist, a Hawk who could put things aside and become better than she was.
But that would never happen. Never would.
By tomorrow afternoon, the building would be rubble and they would be on another pair of missions and the tangled, twisted-up feeling in Hawk's belly would be a little bit worse and the bite of Forge's suspicion would be a little bit harsher and everything would be a little bit darker and a little more hopeless than it was before.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
It was getting easier to lie to Forge. That couldn't be good.