Three weeks ago:
Luna Hawk arrived at the Vice Presidential mansion expecting things to be calm, because Alexander had returned from his disappearance and Solar Hawk would be feeling better. What she found was their few months old son quietly seated on the bed watching Solar Hawk pack with the curious eyes of a quiet infant.
"What's going on?" Kendra asked.
Shaeyera paused and glanced up, the armored eyes of her helmet gleamed in the lights of the room but she could see the wet trails left by tears glistening just beneath the end of the mask. "I need you to help me not kill someone." She said quietly and went back to packing.
"Huh?" Luna Hawk asked.
"He told me he doesn't have time for a family anymore and that we need to go." She said through clenched teeth.
Luna Hawk looked to the door at the sound of footsteps and found Alexander standing there with his arms crossed, his face was stern, cold...like she'd only seen it when he was fighting crime on the streets of Gothic.
Solar Hawk paused and turned as well, crossing her arms under her breasts. I swear something is going on, something...this is not like him at all. He was ecstatic when he found out about his son, even happier when we moved in with him...This is not my Alexander...whatever happened to him...that Alexander died in Gothic. This one is body and nothing more.
"I'm sorry, but I just have too much going on to focus on family matters." He repeated.
Kendra removed her helmet and put it in Malcom Rook's little lap.
"Excuse me?" She asked.
Solar Hawk resumed packing.
"I don't have time for a kid right now, I'm too busy with important affairs of..."
He never finished his sentence, Solar Hawk had put down her things, crossed the room and wrapped her hand around his throat in the amount of time it took for him to finish the word 'of.' She lifted him off of his feet and sensed something she'd never felt in him before...fear. His eyes went wide, he struggled against her grip.
What the hell happened to the man I loved?
Luna Hawk's eyes narrowed and she didn't move to stop Solar Hawk. Instead she stood quietly and shifted her gaze to the child...who didn't seem worried about the condition of his father in the slightest. One day, I'll find out what they did to you Alexander. Solar Hawk thought, her mind not as trained in the art of detective work as Luna's was, it never occurred to her that her child should be frightened in this situation.
Luna Hawk wondered what had happened as well...but was beginning to suspect something had happened to Alexander...and someone had replaced him, possibly against the knowledge of the President.
"If you were any other man, I would kill you where you stand." Solar Hawk said through clenched teeth. "The only thing that spares you now is my inability to feel anything but love for you, even now." She set him back on his feet and released his neck. "If you come back to your senses, you know where to find me." She said. "But our relationship is over."
Solar Hawk reached down and removed the ring from her finger, not the White Sentinel ring, the engagement ring. She placed it on the night stand beside the bed as she picked up her child. "And if you ever find the real you again, if you ever find the person in you that I fell in love with...well...I wouldn't have to tell him how to find me."
Solar Hawk left the room with child in one arm and suitcase in her other hand, the door slammed so hard behind her the wall cracked around it. Luna Hawk shifted her position and put her discarded helmet back on.
"I'm going to find him." She said, turning her attention entirely to what she now believed was some sort of shape shifting doppleganger. "Eventually. When I do, I'm going to enjoy watching Shaeyera spray your brains across half the state." She left as well, but she didn't slam the door, she let it close in eerie silence.
Once outside Solar Hawk turned to Luna Hawk quietly. "I don't know what to do anymore." she admitted.
"What we've always done." Kendra said. She reached out and took the other woman's hand. "We push forward, we live on because the world needs us, because your son needs us now more than ever."
Solar Hawk sighed. "Yeah." I wish I felt like it were that easy.
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