The Secret to Flying - An MCYT Cyberpunk/Dystopian AU

12: Cub

There's a park on my way home from the Hawks. Sometimes I sit there after a long day, a hard flight, a mission or the bad news of one. That's where I go after the evening after I hear about Joey. EX told him to fly into the building. Intentionally fly in there to kill some person he didn't like. I found a list of every single casualty the day after the attack that I now flick through on my holo-screen. One of these people was against EX. Or maybe the attack failed. The person they wanted to kill survived, leaving the mission pointless and these people's deaths, the lives ruined... All for absolutely nothing. The scene in the office runs through my head again and again. What it means.

Is it still Joey's fault, or was he just obeying orders? Should I stop blaming him and start blaming Elex instead? But I don't want to blame Elex. The last person I want to blame is Elex because if he's in the wrong now, what else is he wrong about? What have I done, because he asked me to, that caused trouble? Death? Who have I led on missions attacking innocents?

I feel rain above, glancing up at the dark skies far above the concrete and neon before returning to the screen, stuck looking over the names, stuck spotting xB on every single run through it.

'Cub, just go! I'll get Sausage safe!'

'Seriously...'

'I'm serious! Go!'

How many Hawks have been lost on missions just like xB?

'Howdy, stranger, is it alright if I share this bench here?' 

I glance up. Through the rain I see a person in bright neon with large glasses, long hair and a friendly smile. After a moment returning to the real world, I nod. 

'Yeah, yeah. That's fine.'

He sits, clearly not minding the rain. Definitely not minding the rain - he's not wearing much, their rather flamboyant makeup will probably be ruined, and there are little flashing lights all over his clothes that could easily spark. He just stares silently out at the gardens, perfectly content, despite being soaking wet and at risk of electrocution. 

'Hard job?'

'What?' I look over. The stranger looks back at me.

'I recognised your uniform. You're a Hawk. Is it a hard job?'

'Yeah.' I've never met this person before in my life. I don't even know their name. But somehow admitting that lifts some weight off me. 'Yeah. Really hard.'

'My friend... well, I call them my friend, but she refuses to accept. Her adopted son loves Hawks. He's wanted to be one all his life.'

'A lot of people think that...' I stare down at xB's name. 

Silence. It's still raining and I'm soaked through. But I don't move. The stranger remains completely unbothered.

'Aren't you... cold?' I ask. 

'No. Guess that's the Joe Hills difference...'

'The...'

'I'm Joe Hills,' he holds out his hand. I shake it, hesitating before replying with my name.

'I'm... Cub.'

Joe smiles.

'Well howdy, Cub! You're actually my friend's adopted son's favourite Hawk!'

'What?' I'm instantly caught off-guard. 'I'm...'

'He thinks you're amazing. Can I tell him I met you?'

'Yeah. Yeah. Alright.'

'Thanks, Cub! I don't watch the news much so... I don't know what's going on most of the time. With the Hawks and the Lions...'

'The news doesn't tell you what's really happened. Even us Hawks...' I pause. I can't tell Joe that there's dark secrets in the Hawks. Not a civilian. We're supposed to keep stuff secret. 'The propaganda...'

'I'm sure Xisuma's keeping stuff secret...'

'It's Elex now. Xisuma was the old Captain.' I still remember fondly the friendly, noble leader who promoted me to a Hawk Officer. 

'Oh... well... I'm sure he's got his secrets too. Like the fact he's in charge. Anyway, I should let you get home, Officer Cub. It's raining a little bit.' And, with the same optimistic calm as the rest of his time here, Joe leaves, and I'm left alone.

'Cub! Oh my gosh you're soaking... why didn't you come home sooner?' Jevin questions as soon as I get back.

'Met someone at the park...' I accept the towel he brings me, wrapping it around myself. 

'Someone you knew?'

'A friendly stranger.'

'Cub, you know 'friendly strangers'...'

'...normally want to sell you something, yeah, of course.... But he didn't. We just spoke to each other. Like he was someone I knew. In the park and the rain.' Jevin joins me as I collapse on the sofa, turning on the news. It's all about the Tower still. I switch it back off. 'He told me I was someone's favourite Hawk.' I have to smile at the thought.

'People have favourite Hawks?!'

'Have you seen the propaganda.' 

'True... do you want anything to eat? There's still some leftover cake.'

'Yeah, that sounds nice. Thanks, Jevin.'

While Jevin heads off, I search through the films on my holo-screen until I come across the one Hawkeye film I'll ever watch.

'Hawkeye 3? Really?'

'I'm in it. Come on. It's worth a go, even once.'

Jevin joins me, giving me a slice of the last (illegal) cake I made and waiting for my first appearance. Or... not me. Some rugged bald man with a grey beard and more cheesy inspirational quotes than I will ever be caught dead saying. It's a surprisingly good distraction, pointing out the the gaping inconsistencies, annoying protagonist and detrimentally romanticised view of the Hawks. I tell Jevin everything wrong with it, it ends exactly as he predicted 10 minutes in, and I switch it off to start working on dinner. 

That's when I hear it. 

I stop, frowning at the sound of a low hum from outside, slowly growing louder. The hair on my neck prickles. 

'Cub?' Jevin steps over. 'What's...'

'Shh- shh. Can you hear that?' 

He falls silent, listening. 

'It's- it's almost like a...' I turn to the window. Through the black sky and flickering city skyline, there's another light, growing closer.

Why did you tell Joey to crash into the building?

It was to remove someone who knew too much.

I stop breathing. My heart stops beating, chest burning with terror as I stumble backwards. Jevin's asking questions I don't hear over that drone of incoming death and the Hawk plane crashing through my window, flat, and, in a cloud of ash and knives of glass, my life.

:)