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A while ago, I got to thinking about the whole Monarch arc and how that was initially- in my opinion- a very good villain arc idea for Hank. It still sucked and being a dictator that thought he should personally control the behaviors and actions of everyone around him "for their own good" is DEFINITELY NOT anywhere near his brand of villainy if he were ever to turn to it, but the concept of a terrible, awful event ruining his view on the world and breaking him into a shell of his former self? Love that for any character, honestly, and I'd like to see it done more and done appropriately.

But villain arcs can be a bit of a cliche and honestly I think there are more horrible things you can do to a character than turn them into an outright villain.

Thus the Unity!Hank and Barter!Dawn aus came about.

Barter Dawn:

Dawn and Hank complete their stint in Druspa Tau as normal for the most part. They find T'Charr and Terataya, dying as they did in canon. Before this, however, Dawn confessed to Hank the truth of his brother's death: That the gods who gave them their powers took them from Don and gave them to her moments before he died- possibly taking away his power to defend himself and ultimately causing his death before bringing her to him. At hearing their story, he realizes the truth that his brother's death wasn't just an accident- they'd maliciously intended to kill him in such a way.

And this time, with that knowledge of how they'd manipulated others before- not just him, but Don himself and even Dawn- he resists T'Charr's temptations and manages to pull Dawn away before she can accept Terataya's necklace.

The Gods die, and Hank and Dawn remained trapped for some time until Ren- insistent on bringing them back along with her- asks Barter to bring them back to their world as well. Barter agrees at seeing they're now without power and that Druspa Tau is now without a diety, darkly commenting that this power vacuum can't stay open forever, and that he's sure this will be enough to cover Hank and Dawn's "tab."

Dawn says they have to go back and help- that Barter can't be trusted in such a powerful, ancient dimension- but Hank is adamant that he is done with the life of a super hero. He won't be a piece on anyone's board again, and that's final.

Dawn eventually is able to find her way back to Barter, and offers herself as an apprentice of sorts. Hesitant, he decides it would be way too fun to miss out on, and it isn't before too long he suggests to her that Terataya and T'Charr- along with the powers they once gifted her- aren't gone forever. She realizes his interpretation of ruling this dimension and filling its power vacuum was more in the way of whispering in ears and pulling favors than outright ruling it with an iron fist. This brings comfort, but it's not long until Rome finds and confronts her about her role as a servant of Terataya, and she resolves she will reclaim that power again in service of the people Terataya left behind. She spends years in that realm, aging a month to every day on earth in her mind, but her appearance never changing in her time there.

It takes a little over 223,000 years for her to go after Barter- only about 20 years on Earth. She drags him out into the light as the manipulator of the Druspa Tau people- the unchanging, immature people who demand ever more of not just their realm but their figure heads. Barter is disgusted at this betrayal, but pride shines through him as he taunts Dawn, "reminding" her before the new dimension that she did this for power and not for the people there. He gives her one final thing, one thing he asks nothing for in return: His curse.

With this curse- the curse to never be able to freely give but instead to only be able to give something you're fairly compensated for at the risk of death- he curses her further, letting her know it's his last wish that this power will corrupt her as deliciously as it once corrupted him into a servant of herself.

She returns to the mortal world, aging partially as if she'd lived there the whole time, and there, she makes her deals and takes up Barter's position. She vows it will be different this time- that not every deal must be made at the cost of the other person who asks something of her. With all of this power- Barter's shop, his titles, his old contacts- she now must find a way to help people.

But then she senses it: Terataya, alive and on earth, only a sliver of their original power in a new form... a new Dove.

A new Hawk.

A new deal.

---

Unity Hank:

Starting on a more gruesome day: Hank lays in the sand at Monarch's feet, watching as his partner was torn to shreds but still paralyzed from Monarch's attack. He wants to get up- to fight- but just as soon as the anger washes over him, it's replaced by a further paralyzing sadness.

He's seen this film before, and rather than finishing it out, he wants to turn it off. He allows himself to crawl into his sadness and accept it like a friend rather than push it away with more anger. Even as Monarch taunts him further, wishing to stir him into his rage, he can only sit there numbly, as unmoving as Dawn's corpse.

Eventually, bored or for fear of being caught, Monarch leaves him there and he's sent for by none other than Captain Atom and Doctor Fate, the two having tracked Monarch's signature and are surprised by the foe's disappearance until Fate checks the status of Hank as well as Dawn's wounds, a chaotic energy permeating them both, but at a less pure frequency than Hawk puts out. As Hawk eventually powers down into Hank Hall, he's returned and he's placed into jail without bail while awaiting his trial- the trial for his actions in trying to resurrect Don only a while before Monarch came to kill his living partner.

The testimony of several heroes gets him out of a guilty sentence, but the court of public opinion is more cruel. Ren tries to console him as he turns his back on his life as a hero, but ultimately, he can't lay next to her in bed without seeing Dawn's charred skin or see a threat on the news without tensing and the realization hits him that he's truly afraid of becoming Hawk again without a Dove.

After what happened with Don's attempted revival, he doesn't trust himself and doesn't believe anyone should. He thinks he should be arrested for what happened, but he also doesn't wish anyone into the role of being his babysitter.

So he finds Doctor Fate and learns more about the lords of order and those of chaos, hoping to find someone willing to both take his powers and use them for good, but he can only seem to find one or the other- most of the order lords not willing to touch it and those of chaos not delivering any promises he believes.

In his search, he finds a new Dove- a lead singer in a band named Wiley. He's stupid and funny and sweet... all of the things that makes Hank's stomach turn when he thinks about the kind of things powers like his own do to people like that.

So Hank decides to talk to Wiley. In actuality, he talks to Terataya through Wiley on the bet that Terataya is more present than the god made it seem they would be when asking Hank and Dawn to take them on. If a god can choose a new form, then perhaps they can be talked into letting that form go.

In his efforts, Hank offers Terataya the one thing they and T'Charr truly wanted: To be together.

He offers his own body as a vessel for them both- promising they can take him far away from here to the moon or Druspa Tau or the Chaos Realm or some other dimension where they won't be disturbed the the lords here and they can have their unity. He promises to live a long life if this offer is ignored- to chain T'Charr to him or allow some Lord of Order to chain him up somewhere so that he and T'Charr can suffer an eternity together while Terataya suffers an eternity apart.

And just like that, Terataya agrees, knowing that there is a sick kind of love between order and chaos on display in Hank's sacrifice alone- that he'd be willing to give himself away for a Dove he didn't even know.

T'Charr accepts as well, the two sharing Hank's body as they'd planned to share the child of a Hawk and Dove. The universe finally quiet, Hank does not return home. Wiley cannot remember the encounter. Ren does not know where he went.

This is a bad ending, but in Unity Hank's mind, it's the best he deserved.

He quietly watches other futures- not other dimensions necessarily, but possible futures to try and pick out one that could be better for all three of them. T'Charr and Terataya delight in their time together watching their final puppet struggle after he's already so carefully wrapped himself in their strings. He resolves not to interfere with other Hawks and Doves worlds away- those that exist by nature of his calculations- but he knows his tendency towards chaos may eventually win. Until then, he'll spend his time wishing for something he can't even name.

Description

A while ago, I got to thinking about the whole Monarch arc and how that was initially- in my opinion- a very good villain arc idea for Hank. It still sucked and being a dictator that thought he should personally control the behaviors and actions of everyone around him "for their own good" is DEFINITELY NOT anywhere near his brand of villainy if he were ever to turn to it, but the concept of a terrible, awful event ruining his view on the world and breaking him into a shell of his former self? Love that for any character, honestly, and I'd like to see it done more and done appropriately.

But villain arcs can be a bit of a cliche and honestly I think there are more horrible things you can do to a character than turn them into an outright villain.

Thus the Unity!Hank and Barter!Dawn aus came about.

Barter Dawn:

Dawn and Hank complete their stint in Druspa Tau as normal for the most part. They find T'Charr and Terataya, dying as they did in canon. Before this, however, Dawn confessed to Hank the truth of his brother's death: That the gods who gave them their powers took them from Don and gave them to her moments before he died- possibly taking away his power to defend himself and ultimately causing his death before bringing her to him. At hearing their story, he realizes the truth that his brother's death wasn't just an accident- they'd maliciously intended to kill him in such a way.

And this time, with that knowledge of how they'd manipulated others before- not just him, but Don himself and even Dawn- he resists T'Charr's temptations and manages to pull Dawn away before she can accept Terataya's necklace.

The Gods die, and Hank and Dawn remained trapped for some time until Ren- insistent on bringing them back along with her- asks Barter to bring them back to their world as well. Barter agrees at seeing they're now without power and that Druspa Tau is now without a diety, darkly commenting that this power vacuum can't stay open forever, and that he's sure this will be enough to cover Hank and Dawn's "tab."

Dawn says they have to go back and help- that Barter can't be trusted in such a powerful, ancient dimension- but Hank is adamant that he is done with the life of a super hero. He won't be a piece on anyone's board again, and that's final.

Dawn eventually is able to find her way back to Barter, and offers herself as an apprentice of sorts. Hesitant, he decides it would be way too fun to miss out on, and it isn't before too long he suggests to her that Terataya and T'Charr- along with the powers they once gifted her- aren't gone forever. She realizes his interpretation of ruling this dimension and filling its power vacuum was more in the way of whispering in ears and pulling favors than outright ruling it with an iron fist. This brings comfort, but it's not long until Rome finds and confronts her about her role as a servant of Terataya, and she resolves she will reclaim that power again in service of the people Terataya left behind. She spends years in that realm, aging a month to every day on earth in her mind, but her appearance never changing in her time there.

It takes a little over 223,000 years for her to go after Barter- only about 20 years on Earth. She drags him out into the light as the manipulator of the Druspa Tau people- the unchanging, immature people who demand ever more of not just their realm but their figure heads. Barter is disgusted at this betrayal, but pride shines through him as he taunts Dawn, "reminding" her before the new dimension that she did this for power and not for the people there. He gives her one final thing, one thing he asks nothing for in return: His curse.

With this curse- the curse to never be able to freely give but instead to only be able to give something you're fairly compensated for at the risk of death- he curses her further, letting her know it's his last wish that this power will corrupt her as deliciously as it once corrupted him into a servant of herself.

She returns to the mortal world, aging partially as if she'd lived there the whole time, and there, she makes her deals and takes up Barter's position. She vows it will be different this time- that not every deal must be made at the cost of the other person who asks something of her. With all of this power- Barter's shop, his titles, his old contacts- she now must find a way to help people.

But then she senses it: Terataya, alive and on earth, only a sliver of their original power in a new form... a new Dove.

A new Hawk.

A new deal.

---

Unity Hank:

Starting on a more gruesome day: Hank lays in the sand at Monarch's feet, watching as his partner was torn to shreds but still paralyzed from Monarch's attack. He wants to get up- to fight- but just as soon as the anger washes over him, it's replaced by a further paralyzing sadness.

He's seen this film before, and rather than finishing it out, he wants to turn it off. He allows himself to crawl into his sadness and accept it like a friend rather than push it away with more anger. Even as Monarch taunts him further, wishing to stir him into his rage, he can only sit there numbly, as unmoving as Dawn's corpse.

Eventually, bored or for fear of being caught, Monarch leaves him there and he's sent for by none other than Captain Atom and Doctor Fate, the two having tracked Monarch's signature and are surprised by the foe's disappearance until Fate checks the status of Hank as well as Dawn's wounds, a chaotic energy permeating them both, but at a less pure frequency than Hawk puts out. As Hawk eventually powers down into Hank Hall, he's returned and he's placed into jail without bail while awaiting his trial- the trial for his actions in trying to resurrect Don only a while before Monarch came to kill his living partner.

The testimony of several heroes gets him out of a guilty sentence, but the court of public opinion is more cruel. Ren tries to console him as he turns his back on his life as a hero, but ultimately, he can't lay next to her in bed without seeing Dawn's charred skin or see a threat on the news without tensing and the realization hits him that he's truly afraid of becoming Hawk again without a Dove.

After what happened with Don's attempted revival, he doesn't trust himself and doesn't believe anyone should. He thinks he should be arrested for what happened, but he also doesn't wish anyone into the role of being his babysitter.

So he finds Doctor Fate and learns more about the lords of order and those of chaos, hoping to find someone willing to both take his powers and use them for good, but he can only seem to find one or the other- most of the order lords not willing to touch it and those of chaos not delivering any promises he believes.

In his search, he finds a new Dove- a lead singer in a band named Wiley. He's stupid and funny and sweet... all of the things that makes Hank's stomach turn when he thinks about the kind of things powers like his own do to people like that.

So Hank decides to talk to Wiley. In actuality, he talks to Terataya through Wiley on the bet that Terataya is more present than the god made it seem they would be when asking Hank and Dawn to take them on. If a god can choose a new form, then perhaps they can be talked into letting that form go.

In his efforts, Hank offers Terataya the one thing they and T'Charr truly wanted: To be together.

He offers his own body as a vessel for them both- promising they can take him far away from here to the moon or Druspa Tau or the Chaos Realm or some other dimension where they won't be disturbed the the lords here and they can have their unity. He promises to live a long life if this offer is ignored- to chain T'Charr to him or allow some Lord of Order to chain him up somewhere so that he and T'Charr can suffer an eternity together while Terataya suffers an eternity apart.

And just like that, Terataya agrees, knowing that there is a sick kind of love between order and chaos on display in Hank's sacrifice alone- that he'd be willing to give himself away for a Dove he didn't even know.

T'Charr accepts as well, the two sharing Hank's body as they'd planned to share the child of a Hawk and Dove. The universe finally quiet, Hank does not return home. Wiley cannot remember the encounter. Ren does not know where he went.

This is a bad ending, but in Unity Hank's mind, it's the best he deserved.

He quietly watches other futures- not other dimensions necessarily, but possible futures to try and pick out one that could be better for all three of them. T'Charr and Terataya delight in their time together watching their final puppet struggle after he's already so carefully wrapped himself in their strings. He resolves not to interfere with other Hawks and Doves worlds away- those that exist by nature of his calculations- but he knows his tendency towards chaos may eventually win. Until then, he'll spend his time wishing for something he can't even name.