heroes: "more than a bird," nathan petrelli
"More than a Bird"
Heroes, Nathan Petrelli.
Rated PG-13. 276 words.
Summary: Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's just another hero with clipped wings, bagged and tagged by the government.
Written for the heroes_contest "Freedom" drabble challenge.
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Flight was supposed to mean freedom. Soaring through the clouds, among the birds, nothing between you and the empty expanse of sky. The only problem was, Nathan wasn't free. It was funny, in a sick sort of way: if Nathan had been a normal man then he'd be dead--trapped in the same wreckage that ruined Heidi's spine. Nathan was alive, but he was trapped in the wreckage of his life. The irony wasn't lost on him; is it a bird? A plane? No, it's just another hero with clipped wings, bagged and tagged by the government. Hiro called him Flying Man, once. He made that whooshing sound, smiling vapidly even as Nathan told him to keep it down. The heroes probably had a couple other names for him now: traitor, turncoat, lying bastard. It didn't really matter. Nathan couldn't bring himself to care what the others thought.
All the same, Nathan found himself becoming jealous of Claire. It was absurd--envying his seventeen-year-old daughter because she had the balls to stand up to the same government he had submitted to. But Nathan had submitted himself willingly. Let the heroes fight. They would die, one by one, struggling for... what? Equality? Acceptance? Freedom? Their war was so futile it was almost ridiculous. Noah Bennet was right--if Nathan's hunter knew that his handler was one of the heroes (the word had become so overused it was laughable), then the handsome Senator would have a bag over his head and cuffs around his wrist faster than he could blink.
So Nathan kept his secret, because freedom was a small price to pay for survival. After all, even caged birds sing.
Heroes, Nathan Petrelli.
Rated PG-13. 276 words.
Summary: Is it a bird? A plane? No, it's just another hero with clipped wings, bagged and tagged by the government.
Written for the heroes_contest "Freedom" drabble challenge.
----
Flight was supposed to mean freedom. Soaring through the clouds, among the birds, nothing between you and the empty expanse of sky. The only problem was, Nathan wasn't free. It was funny, in a sick sort of way: if Nathan had been a normal man then he'd be dead--trapped in the same wreckage that ruined Heidi's spine. Nathan was alive, but he was trapped in the wreckage of his life. The irony wasn't lost on him; is it a bird? A plane? No, it's just another hero with clipped wings, bagged and tagged by the government. Hiro called him Flying Man, once. He made that whooshing sound, smiling vapidly even as Nathan told him to keep it down. The heroes probably had a couple other names for him now: traitor, turncoat, lying bastard. It didn't really matter. Nathan couldn't bring himself to care what the others thought.
All the same, Nathan found himself becoming jealous of Claire. It was absurd--envying his seventeen-year-old daughter because she had the balls to stand up to the same government he had submitted to. But Nathan had submitted himself willingly. Let the heroes fight. They would die, one by one, struggling for... what? Equality? Acceptance? Freedom? Their war was so futile it was almost ridiculous. Noah Bennet was right--if Nathan's hunter knew that his handler was one of the heroes (the word had become so overused it was laughable), then the handsome Senator would have a bag over his head and cuffs around his wrist faster than he could blink.
So Nathan kept his secret, because freedom was a small price to pay for survival. After all, even caged birds sing.