>>6058896>>6058947>>6058978"Let's hit the partner. If Gorchakov fucked him over it could make for a simple flip."
"No such thing." Hawthorne mumbles to himself, a thoughtful look in his eye. "Not to mention we don't have any hard proof Gorchakov set him up."
"Grey told me once to never accept coincidence until everything else is off the table. Maybe we don't need proof, we just need to sow a little doubt."
Hawthorne looks at you with surprise and barely hidden pride. He nods firmly.
"I like it." He says simply as you both head for the door with papers tucked beneath your arms. "Get changed, grab the war bags, and meet me at the shop."
"Get changed? Reiner said we're off patrols."
"Rook, why is it we wear uniforms?" Hawthorne asks in a lecturing tone.
"To identify ourselves as police?"
"Why does that matter?"
"So the public knows we're there to help?"
"Now why do you think Batman put on his tights and pointy ears?"
"To hide his face?"
"Jesus, son. Intimidation. We have our own form of that."
"Should we?" You ask.
"Doesn't matter, because we already do. It's baked into society, you're a cop DeLucia, when you're driving around Gotham and see a black and white what do you think?"
"Ah. I get it."
"Exactly, the uniform adds to whatever we're saying. Even to other cops the uniform is a symbol of authority.. at least mine is." He pats your shoulder affectionately and opens the door.
"What's that mean?"
"Face it, son. Until you get some stars and bars, or at least get out of the rookie blues, nobody's gonna be scared of you." Hawthorne chuckles as he passes through the door, leaving you behind with your thoughts and a slight stinging on your ego.
=====
You grunt deeply as you chuck the warbag into the open trunk. Slamming the lid you hear the door to the prep bay shut. You look up and see Hawthorne in his proper Sergeant's Attire, his hat adorned with the emblem of the GCPD in shining silver. You whistle low.
"Never seen you in that get up before, sir."
"Well, if we fuck this up I'll have to return it so I figured I'd get some use out of it while I can. Can't wear it on patrol either according to guidelines but since we're already on the Commander's shit list and this isn't a patrol I figured.."
"Can't burn what's already ash?"
"Something along those lines. That's pretty good, where'd you hear that?" Hawthorne says as he lobs you a set of keys.
"My pops, he likes to try and coin new expressions. It's a problem honestly."
You hop in and turn the key, your shop roars to live and rumbles gently. You'd never really noticed before but you can feel every vibration from the engine through the wheel, it's enough to make your fingers go slightly numb. You slide your hand along the wheel feeling the smooth leather, you brush the stitching of the wheel and track it slowly with your fingertip.
A sudden harsh voice shocks you back to the moment.
"Am I interrupting something between you two?" Hawthorne asks, his eyebrow arched high.
