CHAPTER 3
"Do you think he'll do it, sir?" Lauren asked her boss.
"Hawke? Depends on how likely he thinks a total bloodbath is likely to happen if we have to send in an extraction team. His main purpose in life right now is to find his brother, but other than to do that, he doesn't value his own life all that much, and I don't doubt he'd be willing to die if it meant saving multiple others."
"What is that probability?"
The deputy director shook his head grimly. "I'd say that there is a very good chance he would be forced into some sort of trap. The catch is, he and Airwolf have a more favorable likelihood of coming out on top."
\A/
"Hawke," Michael greeted, knowing there only to be one reason why he would have come in, especially with such a disdainful look on his face.
"I'll do it," Hawke said curtly, "but I do it my way."
"I don't call the shots in this one. Zeus is the head of the FIRM and therefore head of this mission. He wants it done his way or his way, no exceptions."
"That's one reason I don't work for the FIRM anymore, and honestly I don't think he has much bargaining room. I have to want to work for him and I still have Airwolf."
"So how are you planning on pulling this one off if you're taking the risks while battling the whole committee?"
"With your help, of course."
"My help?" Archangel repeated. "Zeus is likely to can me, if not have me brought up on charges for treason if he finds out."
"Isn't treason a bit overboard?"
"I wouldn't put it past him."
"Then just don't let him find out what you really know." Hawke shrugged. "That's what spies like you are supposed to do anyway."
"It's not exactly as easy as it sounds."
"Zeus and the committee never have to know anything is different. You can provide me the information to get this….agent…." he over-enunciated with a bitter undertone, "out and I fly Airwolf. It's as simple as that."
"Not everything is simple black and white, Hawke."
"Oh, is that why they put all those other colors in the crayon box?" he asked sarcastically.
"Seriously, how are you planning it?"
"I'm taking Dom and possibly Cait too."
"That'll really be stretching the distance between fuel pickups, and if Airwolf is damaged at any point, you'll never make it with the additional weight," Michael cautioned.
"We'll make due with what we've got. Now do you agree or not? Because if you don't, I'm an hour late for work."
"Fine, but the whole committee here still thinks you're following the rules so they'll continue to be applied on this end - meaning no extraction teams, and if you're captured total deniability. Even I may not be able to help you."
"You make it sound like I'm some lawbreaker no one wants."
"You're coming pretty close," Michael advised.
"Perspective. I'm not breaking the rules since I never agreed to them, just testing the limits and changing them a little."
\A/
"So how was your flight with Ruby yesterday?" Caitlin asked with a grin on her face as she grabbed the wrench and slid back under the helicopter's belly.
"Oh just lovely," Dom replied sarcastically. "I really don't understand why she keeps coming back; I don't think she even likes flying."
"You should see the way her face lights up when Hawke walks in though."
"String and her? Nah. Can't say I see that one happening, for a couple of reasons. For one, he wouldn't give up flying for more than a very limited few things and I don't think Ruby happens to be on that list. She's not his type anyway. Granted, String doesn't think anybody is his type."
"What exactly is his type?"
"You know String, and String will be String."
"String type? A kind all his own. He must be a special guy."
"And he'll find that special girl one of these days, assuming he doesn't push her away like he tries to do with anyone who gets within twenty feet of him."
"He's not that bad, Dom. I think in time someone will be able to win him over eventually."
"I try to keep that in mind, but he isn't cooperating much. I even thought there was a bit of hope when Gabrielle came along, but we all know how that turned out, and to him further proving he just won't ever get a perfect and happy life."
"Him never have a happy life? Of course life isn't perfect, but there still isn't any reason why he can't still have a pretty nice one."
"He seems to think he's cursed. Can't say I agree with him, but I cam see where he's coming from."
"The car accident was a fluke, and working for the FIRM is dangerous work any day not just when he and Airwolf are involved."
"Try telling him that."
"Tell me what?" Hawke asked as he entered the hangar for the first time that morning.
"That you don't have to always have to worry about the people who come near you without a thirty foot pole," Caitlin supplied, a grin firmly plastering itself on her face when she saw the confused look on his face.