"Glad you made it," Luke said, sounding genuinely pleased to see him.
"Of course," Mark replied.
"Sweet Christmas, we got a lot of work to do," Luke said with a loud breath. "I'm glad you came today, we got a lot of buildings we need to clear and mark for inspection, the community centres aren't doing well either the overflow of families there."
"Then let's get to work," Mark said as he took off his hoodie and rolled up his sleeves.
Before they got started Three older Black women with auntie energy hollered at them. They had a pop-up buffet going on two folding tables, aluminum trays of mac and cheese, pans of greens, chicken, cornbread wrapped in foil, and a cooler full of drinks. They were constantly fussing over the workers and made sure that everyone had food and that people were keeping hydrated.
"Boy, you too skinny to be moving all that concrete," one of them said, tongs already dropping chicken on a paper plate he hadn't agreed to have.
"I'm not skinny," he said, taking it anyway.
"You will be if you don't eat," another said. "You want a soda or water?"
"Water," he replied.
"Good answer," she said, handing him the bottle.
Luke gave him a grin. "Don't fight them," he said. "That's a battle you won't win."
Mark snorted. "I think I know that by now, I don't eat breakfast anymore before coming here nowadays."
Luke chuckled and pat him on the back. "Eat up then let's get to work."
The hours blurred together. They hauled twisted rebar, cleared piles of bricks, shoveled debris and glass. They mostly tried to make this place liveable again. There were a lot of families stuck in the community centre because of this and so the quicker they worked the better it would be for everyone. There were quiet moments too. Helping a woman sift through what was left of her apartment for a photo album. Helping an older man get his stuff out of an apartment, helping a family get their possessions, it was gruelling work but Mark liked it.
All the while, Luke was the same as ever. He never complained, never slowed. He cracked jokes to keep people's spirits up, lifted the kind of weight most men couldn't though people just put that down to him being built well, and most importantly he treated everyone like they mattered. As they were moving rubble Mark thought about how they even got here in the first place.
A few days after Harlem, Luke had knocked on his door. He'd already figured it out that it was Mark who had been there. There'd been footage of Mark in the fight—blurry, grainy, but enough to recognise the outfit Mark wore. Luke had seen him right before it all went down, and there was no point denying it. When Mark finally told him the truth, he braced himself for the expected reaction: fear, judgment, maybe even betrayal. Instead, Luke had just listened. Then he'd told his own story, his past, his mistakes, and his powers. In hindsight, Mark was glad he didn't lie. Luke had become his closest friend, someone he trusted without question. He was genuine. A good man. Whenever Mark needed advice, Luke was there, to offer it. Without him, Mark wasn't sure how he'd have handled half of this.
They wrapped at sunset. Crews packed tools. The food table went from "buffet" to "take some for the road." They had made a lot of progress today, especially when Mark and Luke had gone off on their own and used their abilities to clear the rubble faster. Afterwards he and Luke did their daily ritual. They took the cooler and the fold-up chairs up to the roof of an abandoned building with a good view west. They'd kick it back and relax with a few beers and watch the sun setting while talking about whatever was on their mind.
Luke cracked two beers and handed one over. "You did good today."
"Everybody did good today," Mark said, taking a pull. The beer was cold and cheap but it tasted perfect.
They sat with it for a while, letting the wind move and the sun fall a notch.
"You good?" Luke asked without turning.
For a while Mark didn't answer. "I've been thinking," Mark said.
"Always dangerous," Luke said with a grin.
"Not the first person to say that today," Mark commented with a chuckle.
"Maybe that should give you a hint," Luke quipped back before taking a sip from his beer.
Mark shook his head, a grin on his face before he took a sip from his own. He then went over what happened with Nick Fury and shield. He had kept it from his friend at first because he didn't want to panic him or drag him into a situation where the cops could end up finding out who he was and arresting him again. But in the end he just couldn't make a decision like this without hearing someone else's perspective.
Luke rubbed his jaw. "You saved a lot of people that night in Harlem, who knows how many would've died if you hadn't of kept the abomination distracted. I can't believe he'd come into your room and say those kinds of things."
"He wasn't wrong about the nerves," Mark said. "I scare people."
"You scare the wrong people," Luke said. "And the wrong people know how to make their fear everyone else's problem."
"You think anyone in this community would be scared of you after what you've done for them?" He asked rhetorically. "They're scared because someone has come along that can't be hurt and could be easily take all the power that they've accumulated away."
Mark knew that of course, but it didn't make the situation any easier. Having a bunch of people in power who hated his very existence because of how easily he could take it away from them wouldn't end up well. Mark took another drink, then looked at the phone in his pocket like it could burn through fabric. "He wants me 'with them.' Says it'll be better for everyone. More good done. Less panic for everyone who thinks I'm a ticking time bomb."
"And what do you want?" Luke asked.
Mark shrugged. "I don't know," he said unconvincingly. "I've been thinking about it a lot and maybe this would be for the best."
Luke raised a brow. "For the best?" He asked.
Mark nodded. "If I take their offer and ask for an outrageous sum then I could pump it into the community here, and it'll go a long way in making shield think I'm just another greedy human. Maybe with that kind of reassurance they'll think they can control me."
"Now why in Santa's reindeer would you go and do that?" Luke asked as he set his bottle of beer down.
"What's the alternative Luke?" Mark asked. "If I refuse they'll likely increase their surveillance of me and maybe even target people I'm close to. I don't have many friends, but I don't want anything happening to you or Natalie."
Luke chuckled but he pat his friend on the shoulder. "I appreciate that man, but you don't have to worry about me, I can handle myself."
"They might look into you," Mark commented. "They could dig into your past and find out about—"
"So what?" Luke interrupted him.
Mark looked at him incredulously. "What do you mean so what, you'd get sent back to jail, for a crime you didn't commit!" He almost shouted.
Luke chuckled. "You're my friend Mark, and I'd rather go back and do a few years upstate than watch you be miserable."
Mark went to speak again but Luke held up a hand. "Mark you have the ability to do real good, make a real change in people's lives. But that change can't come from a place of misery or hate. You see everyone who showed up today? They did that because they felt hope, hope that they could get through today and make a slightly better tomorrow."
"So I'll ask again, Mark what do you want?" Luke asked.
Mark went to dispute Luke, but found that he couldn't, not a single thing he'd said was wrong. In the end the only thing he could do was answer the question. There was a lot of things he wanted, but deep down there was only one thing that he wanted; something that had been bred from a lifetime of living in Gotham.
"I want to show the world that things like kindness and hope aren't luxuries, I want to show them that this world can be a better place..." it sounded a bit cheesy, but living in a hopeless place like Gotham, Mark could only watch as things never changed because people never believed they could.
Luke smiled. "Now that's a dream worth going to jail for," he said offering clinging his bottle against Marks.
Mark snorted. "I don't even know where I'd start."
Luke thought about it for a moment before he pointed to the building over in the distance. "You see that building?" He asked.
Mark nodded.
"That's the Baxter building, now I know you make money selling your gizmos and stuff, maybe you could put your big brain to work over there."
Marks brow creased. "What's over there?" He asked.
"Baxter Foundation," Luke replied.
"I can't say I've heard of it," Mark said, taking another sip from his beer.
"They are a science institute, one that used to be funded by the government."
"Used to be?"
Luke nodded. "Recently too, but apparently the government tried to make them focus on technology with more military applications. The founder Franklin Storm declined and the government pulled funding. They're not doing too hot right now, but at least they're staying true to their mission of making things that'll help humanity."
"How do you know all this?" Mark asked.
Luke chuckled. Pops and Franklin used to know each other apparently, the old man wouldn't shut up about it last week since the foundation was in the news."
"I doubt I could do anything, it sounds like they're a bunch of super geniuses," Mark commented.
Luke shrugged. "It was just a suggestion, there are lots of things someone like you could do to help. Just do what feels right."
Mark nodded. He looked back at the sunset feeling a little better about the situation he was in. 'It's nice having friends.' He thought to himself with a smile.
(AN: Mark was a little sceptical when he first came to this universe, but being arojnd good people has helped him get over Gotham. Now we get to see him be the hero he should've always. Been. Or something.)
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