Author's Note: This is the flip side to the last story, also an AU but a little less this time.

Hawk

Bullets exploded over my head and I dived for the nearest piece of cover - a very shot up looking bar. I slammed into the tile floor and swore as a particularly vicious shard of glass drove itself into my arm.

"Weird?" a woman asked surprised, over the roar of gunfire. "You were supposed to be going out the back."

"Ambush," I hissed, telekinetically sucking the glass out of my arm and moving into a sitting position behind the bar. That was going to hurt in the morning, assuming of course I made it to the next morning.

"How many got out?"

"A half dozen maybe," I hazarded while trying to remember her name. Karen something, worked in a bank, bloody strong psychic though not that good with actually doing anything and the second in command of the local chapter.

"There were at least fifty," she said grimly, taking few pot shots over the top of the bar at the cops.

"That's ambushes for you," a kid, James I think, chimed in. There were just too many to remember them all, too many names, too many faces. As it was ultimately my fault for the mess they were in I really should do them the decency of learning their names but with something like sixty thousand psychics world wide its gotten to the point where I just can't keep track any more.

"We're going to have to make a break for it," the final man behind the bar cut in. He was in his mid forties and I definitely didn't remember his name though in my defence I don't think he'd said much.

"There's quite a few of them," James observed.

"Drop the ceiling on them then?" Karen asked me.

"I was thinking throw the bar," I said with a shrug.

"Deal."

I hopped into a squat as Karen crouched, pulling her arms back in a mock martial arts style, I just focused on gathering energy. Back in the old days this would have been child's play but things have changed since then and I'm no longer as apocalyptic as I once was. I'm still not sure whether or not to be glad about that.

A wall of psychic force slammed into the bar and there was the sound of tortured metal as bolts tore and the thing went flying, the four of us accelerating after it. The cops dove for cover as the ballistic bar slammed on top of two of them, completely blocking the door, and the rest of the cops started firing. I tore tiles out of the floor and sent them screaming towards the ceiling in a vain attempt to stop the bullets, and winced as the nameless man simply dropped to the floor. No time to do anything though.

Three cops fell writhing as a window exploded inwards catching them in a deadly rain of glass, and two shards screamed away from the swarm catching two other cops in the throats. James stumbled as he tried to concentrate on too much at once, and a bullet that must have passed within a millimetre of a tile drilled its way into his calf. He fell as Karen and I leapt in unison through the window and hit the ground running, dodging past some surprised looking cops and diving down a side street. A part of me was screaming over leaving another person behind but self preservation can be a powerful motivator.

Another shot whizzed over my shoulder and I felt Karen reaching out for the walls, and I joined her in dragging a layer of bricks out that went thundering into the alley effectively blocking any pursuit. We kept running.

"I think," Karen panted about twelve back alleys later. "We. Lost them."

I sank against the wall next to her. "This is a disaster," I said shaking my head.

"True. But we escaped didn't we?"

"You wouldn't have had to escape if it hadn't been for me," I admitted sombrely.

"Now that's just being harsh on yourself," she said putting her arm around me. "Just because you arrived today doesn't mean they were after you specifically."

"Err," I said hesitantly. "That's not technically true."

"They were after you!" she exclaimed, taking her arm off my shoulder and recoiling a little. "There must have been a hundred cops out there. Who the hell are you, the damn Awakener?"

I kept quiet. Just for reference being awakened is having any psychic potential you have unlocked by another psychic. The Awakener was the first psychic and, coincidentally, me.

"Good lord. No wonder you're feeling guilty."

"Sorry for screwing up your life," I said sheepishly.

"I hated my old life anyway," she admitted shrugging. "At least this one's exciting. Now let's get out of here."

She rose to go and there was a soft 'phut' and something whistled over my head, followed by a meaty 'thunk' as the something buried itself deep in her arm. I leapt to my feet and spotted a shadowy figure a hundred yards away who I knew with absolute certainty would have killed Karen if she hadn't picked that exact moment to stand up.

The shadow exploded in a ball of flame and yelled in surprise, I really didn't mean to do that.

"Now Weird," Hawk said from right behind me and I whirled, staring at him in shock. "Was that really necessary?"

"You're dead," I gasped after a stunned moment.

"Really?" he asked in mock surprise, looking at his hand. "I don't feel dead."

"I know you're dead because I killed you," I countered angrily. "I killed all of us."

"And yet we're both here. Care to explain your side?"

"I just," I said faltering, for the first time really thinking about the question. "Pulled myself back together after the explosion. You couldn't do that though. So that means you're not real."

"And here I thought it was quite convincing," he said with a dismissive shrug.

"You still look fourteen. You could have at least aged yourself the eight years."

"So much for artistic licence," he said rolling his eyes. "I spent a long time on becoming real again."

"You're not real," I insisted. "Hawk's dead. What are you, just some ghost in the machine?"

"I prefer to think myself more than a ghost," he said with a sarcastic smile. "I am running the world you know."

"That's you?" I asked in surprise.

"Oh come on Weird, you're not stupid. Though with this little epidemic you've created I've had to reconsider that recently."

"Shit," I swore, finally figuring it out. "It is you isn't it? You're the one killing them all."

"'Running the world' remember," he said even including the air quotes. "And I've had to clear up this catastrophe, the only way I can."

"You've killed thousands," I said stunned, backing away.

"Necessary," he said with another dismissive shrug. "Psychics are a danger to themselves and everyone around them. I think you proved that with your explosion."

I turned to run and spotted another Hawk standing twenty yards away with a large automatic weapon and a grin.

"And me?" I asked hesitantly turning to face the first Hawk who was now flanked by two more clones, or robots, or whatevers.

"Root cause of the problem, sorry."

I began to desperately draw in power and the Hawks' guns came up.

"One question though Hawk," I cut in, bracing myself and getting ready to launch Karen along with me. "Did you remember the wings?"

I unleashed the energy just as the guns roared and Karen and I were hurled into the sky, the acceleration pulling at my joints and suddenly were high above the city and beginning to fall. A flick of my wings sent me spiralling towards her and I began leaching energy out of the air to keep us airborne.

I had no clear idea where to go so just kept moving, got Karen to a hospital, left town in a hurry and finally holed up in a motel for the night.

It wasn't until then that I finally broke down, and cried.