shellphones

Not if they need to be changed. (They know you Hawks, they know you won't get them changed if they leave it now.

For now though, they'll bring the armload of stuff they've brought with them and set it out on the table nearest where Hawks is lying, grab the inhaler, and offer it to him.)

For your lungs. (They look over at Faulkner.) Get him out of that shirt, for now.

[ Hawks reaches back behind his head and unhooks the mask so he can pull it off of his face. He's definitely breathing with a wheeze without the help and he does as he's told, using the inhaler.

His shirt won't be much of a problem, it's a simple zip to get it undone and he'll cooperate, giving up one arm than the other to get it off. It doesn't have holes in the back, so it must not have originally belonged to him. Underneath he is completely wrapped in bandages, the only thing that looks somewhat odd is the two bumps where his wing bones would come out of, that have additional padding to protect them. The injuries are fresh, so it's likely he does need his bandages changed after he spent the day gallivanting around. ]

I didn't tell you about my mission, not really. I was back home for awhile. Couple of weeks. Mission kind of blew up in my face. I miscalculated.

[ He'll just nod and help with the shirt as gently as he can, before taking in a sharp breath when he sees the wing spots. It was strange enough seeing them missing but that's still somehow far worse. The bones and everything...? He feels kind of sick.

At least things are clicking into place. 'Went home' was his best guess, but neither of them had actually confirmed it.

That doesn't help his fears for himself at all, but he does his best to shove those to the back of his mind for now. ]

You said you were undercover. That there was a war brewing.

[ And a few other details. Not many, but Faulkner was paying attention at least. Though those details aren't his biggest concern right this second. ]

But... your whole wings? They'll—they'll really grow back?

(The inhalers active ingredient is apparently derived from lung healing pollen. There's likely to be some instant relief even if it's not gonna fix everything. Just a little extra on top of the healing he's already got.)

If they don't grow back on their own, there's probably magic that can help... if you want that.

(Hawks likes flying, but that doesn't necessarily mean he'd want to do something like that.

They look at the bandages now that the shirt is off and... yeah they're getting pretty gross in spots.)

...You definitely need these changed. You know you're going to have to have them changed regularly, right?

(They should probably have him take painkillers first, since that's going to be an absolutely miserable process.)

[ Some relief is better than none, so he'll take it. He doesn't replace the mask if Chris is going after his bandages because they're all around his head and face too. He nods at the question. He hasn't figured out how he's going to do that yet.

Keigo pats Richie's arm lightly, and then gives him an answer. ]

Doctor says they should come back, they're not entirely gone. The right wing bone that's there is slightly bigger than the left.

[ Thinking ahead, he gestures to go for his head first, that'd be better so he could ease his breathing and continue explaining. ]

We launched an assault against the villain stronghold I was infiltrating. It was my job to keep the biggest threat contained. Bubaigawara was my target. I underestimated Dabi's response and threat level, considerably.

[ His hair has not been neatly cut, it's uneven and singed, and as the bandages would come away the entire back of his neck is a moderately severe looking burn, and somehow not connected to that one is a jagged, equally brutal burn scar along his left neck trailing up to his cheekbone. There's no indication at the base of his neck that the burn stops there, in fact, the bandages might suggest it very much is only the beginning. ]

[ If Keigo doesn't have a solid plan for making sure someone's going to be taking care of him, Faulkner will be insisting. He'll likely be insisting anyway. But they can have that argument later if they have to.

At least the part about the wings makes him feel a little better. ]

I don't think you've told me those names... but I get the gist.

[ And even if his previous thoughts were to worry that he'd likely sympathize with the League all things considered, right now he's angry. He cares about Keigo, and he's nothing if not a hypocrite when it suits his needs.

He does his best not to react when the face bandages come off. He winces all the same, and mutters something about bait and flesh. ]

Is there... a lot of pain? Should we deal with that first?

[ This can't be a very pleasant experience, even if it needs to be done. ]

Yeah. Sorry.

(They'll offer Hawks the painkiller they had grabbed for this specific purpose. Too busy being annoyed to remember everything.

Once Hawks has taken the painkillers they'll get to work on covering his face burns with whatever miraculous burn treatment Turo has managed to make--probably some sort of spray like the potions--and rebandaging them.)

...You killed him, didn't you? Your target?

(These burns are perfectly on the edge of causing as much damage as possible without destroying the nerves. Someone wanted Hawks to die in agony.

...They remember him saying he deserved this.)

These are torture burns.

[ He hasn't complained about the pain. He's obviously feeling it - Chris can probably feel it through him, the pain is bad, but he's pretty unaffected and nonchalant about it. It's not his first tangle with pain, he hadn't made a peep when the flames were being applied. He will take the painkiller he's given though without much hesitation or questions. Just his brain on autopilot, obedience that's been drilled into him. ]

I asked Twice to give me another choice. He didn't. There's a reason he was the target. So yes. I killed him. Even if as a person, he was a good man.

[ A good man who had nowhere to be but with villains, doing terrible things. Not only that, but the way he feels just isn't the empathy for someone he needed to eliminate. Twice was practically a friend. Hawks was in way, way too deep on this mission. He feels so incredibly guilty. ]

Dabi's reaction should've been something I saw coming, but I secluded us. I wasn't expecting him to interfere. Fire is a bad match up for me.

[ His jaw tightens at the torture comment... especially when Keigo doesn't deny it. That wasn't something he knew how to recognize, which admittedly might be a good thing.

Chris might notice that this is an entirely different flavour of anger than when they annoy Faulkner; that's harmless and this very much isn't. He may be tired of getting blood on his hands but right now he'd like some more.

...but that's not a side of him he particularly wants Keigo to see. And all he can do is stew over things that happened a world away, regardless. ]

I'm sorry you had to do that. I know you wouldn't have, if you'd had the choice.

[ He doesn't need to know the rest to be sure of that much, at this point. ]

(They can feel it. It hits their danger sense hard enough that they pause and glance briefly at Faulkner, just to make sure he's not like, actually about to go homicidal right then and there.

After a moment though, they'll turn their attention back to tending to Hawks.)

So you were friends with the guy you killed. Guess it shouldn't be surprising given your taste in befriending shady Corsairs, but your handlers should have been watching for that. (Even if the Commission saw him as expendable and didn't care, they should have been worried about him possibly betraying them or screwing up the mission. Are they just that incompetent?

It won't take them too long to finish rebandaging his face.)

Put your mask back on.

[ Richie's right, he would have, and likely Chris knows that too. He gave Twice an out. More than once. The other man just didn't take it, and he understood why. That didn't make his job easier, or his guilt lessen.

He snaps it back into place, grateful for it. ]

Handlers are dead too. [ Oh right he'd neglected to mention that to Richie. ]

So's Madame President and the upper management team at the HPSC. I'm a free bird now. No one really left to lock the door.

[ Unraveling more bandages will make the picture more and more clear. One wing has barely a stump left, and the other perhaps about an inch. They're blackened, the pinfeathers burned off from the flames. Beyond that, the scarring on the back of his neck extends all the way down his entire back. There's a line along both of his sides where the burn ends. His arms are not much better, they're burned all the way from shoulder to past his elbows before they begin to taper off in a couple of looser splotches. The burn ends at about his tailbone, putting it fairly close to life threatening territory. ]

[ Fortunately there's no one here it would feel good to take things out on. Meaning he'll just quietly seethe. Or maybe not quite so quietly. ]

Good. Serves 'em right.

[ He knows he might get some pushback on that. He doesn't really care right now.

Though the Commission won't stay the top thing on his mind for long. He flinches at how bad the wings and back scars are. ]

Should we also look for a healer or something...?

[ This is more directed at Chris, he trusts their judgement more than Keigo's decision making. ]

The Commission are dead now, but you've been on this mission for a while.

(They should have been monitoring this like, a long time ago.

They absolutely deserved what they got, at least. They nod in agreement with Faulkner's words.) Yeah.

(They suck in a little breath at what the bandages unveil, but they don't say anything and just start spraying the back wounds down, including the wings.) Could, maybe, but he's already been treated, this is more about maintenance than anything. Might talk to people with healing magic to see if they can reduce the scarring that's gonna happen? With this much damage even if the wings grow back it might be painful to fly.

Months. I couldn't contact my handler, I had a few dozen bugs in my wings. Tracked on both sides. Not that it mattered. I got the job done.

[ And isn't he heartless for doing so? He carries guilt and self-disgust for this. At the mention of the Commission he is definitely not sorry about that. He's rather indifferent to their deaths. He didn't like them. ]

I don't care about the scarring. [ Because he deserves it a thousand times over. It's not like he doesn't know right from wrong, and he still did the wrong, but necessary thing. ] Broke my poor little intern's heart. He's the one who pulled me out of there, but I broke the first rule of assassinations. Don't get caught. Dabi hijacked the airwaves after that, ensuring that while he railed about the Commission and everything wrong with hero society, he also dragged mine and Endeavor's names through the mud.

My status as their spy and assassin, a recording of me killing Twice in a way that...it wasn't the cleanest kill. He brandished my name like a weapon and made sure to remind everyone that I'm a villain like my father. Gonna have to do some major damage control.

If we're lucky maybe you won't have to worry about all that.

[ Yes, it's partly selfish to want Keigo here. But look what happened when he went home this time. What if it's worse, what if one day he just never gets answers—like what will probably happen with himself.

But right this moment that's not actually his biggest concern. Maybe he's misinterpreting things, especially with the text to speech making it hard to tell tone. But he doesn't like the impression he's getting. ]

Keigo.

[ He'll try to take his hand, or at least give another light touch. ]

I can tell there's guilt. I know it can be easy to make of yourself whatever monster they'd like to paint you as.

I care, though. About you healing and healing well and being able to fly without pain. And you will too, later, probably.

[ All this from a man who both often prefers painting himself as a monster to admitting he had less agency in the narrative than he'd like, and loves to tell himself his suffering makes him noble. But, you know. Nothing if not a hypocrite. ]

(They hear Hawks thinking about how he apparently deserved it and their fist clenches around the bottle of burn spray. They almost say something, almost start yelling about how he does not, in fact, deserve it, but Faulkner is there and Faulkner of all people says it first.

Says it better than they ever could have.)

Yeah. (They nod.) If someone so dangerous that you felt you had to kill him even though he was your friend is still a good person, then so are-

(CRACK!

They'd been white knuckling that glass bottle for over a minute now and it finally decides to shatter under the pressure, exploding into shards. A few stab into Chris' hand and they yelp in sudden pain, pulling back.)

Fuck!

[ He does, primarily, feel guilt, for a lot of reasons, but in particular this one really is weighing on him. Richie gets a bit of a soft expression and he squeezes his hand lightly, acknowledging what he's saying. He knows his guilt is driving him to be far more morose than he wants to be.

He just can't think of a bright side to his actions, saving heroes aside. However Richie's hand gets dropped immediately when Chris seems to hurt themself and he's already up on one elbow, turning quickly like he's going to help.

Of course he intends on helping. ]

[ It's not really the mannerisms he's leaned into in front of Chris before, but he's good with words when he wants to be; it's the only reason he's gotten away with half the shit he's gotten away with. People don't tend to follow an uncharismatic religious leader.

He's about to say something else when he's thoroughly startled. What even happened? ]

You stop that, I'll help 'em. Bait an' flesh, Chris. Lemme see your hand...

[ And now he's right back to sounding younger and more exasperated. But the concern will in fact feel genuine. ]

Hawks-(They start, obviously intending to scold him themself, but then Faulkner is trying to get a look at their hand and they almost jump back, pulling it close to their chest.)

I'll get it. Can you do his bandages?

(They don't trust Faulkner that much.)

[ He raises his hands in a placating gesture to indicate that he will calm down and let them look after it. It doesn't look serious at least, but it was instinctive. ]

It's wrong to kill people, I know that. I also know sometimes that decision has to be made. It's not something people would understand and I wouldn't want to put anyone else in that position.

[ He didn't expect them to be quite that jumpy, but he'll back off. ]

...Alright. Yeah, I think I can handle this.

[ Fortunately he knows a passable amount of first aid, even if he's not used to bandaging things this extensive. He'll get started on the bandages, trying to be careful as he goes. ]

I think... some people would understand, at least.

[ Just short of actually saying he understands from experience, though.]

Yeah.

(After a moment, they'll relax enough to start actually working on fixing up their hand. There's a shard of glass stuck in their flesh and they'll brace themself before pulling it out with a little hiss of pain, blood immediately welling up to stream down their hand and drip all over the floor.

Guess they'll have to clean that up too.

For now, they do what they can to disinfect their wounds.)

I'm sorry you had to kill him.

Thanks. Both of you. He could make copies of himself. Thousands. If I couldn't talk him down it would've been a disaster. I don't think he woke up wanting to kill people but for his friends, he'd do anything.

[ He was incredibly loyal, it's a good trait when applied. ]

Dabi outwitted me. [ And to that, Chris can feel his wonder at it. His surprise. ] He got my name from my mother so I had to check on her.

[ He has several questions, but then it's the last part that catches his attention the most after all.

They've talked a fair bit about Keigo's parents, and about... complicated family emotions. They sound like they were horrible, but he knows it's not actually as simple as that, so he'll keep his tone gentle. More effort than the Commission got, at least. ]

Was she... alright?

You sound surprised. (As though surprised that he is, like they expected him to be used to being outsmarted. Sorry Hawks, you befriended a rude little asshole.

...But also they're currently pulling the wool over his eyes about their own nature and powers, so...

Ugh, that's a lot of fucking blood. They'll work on applying pressure to their hand before they start to bandage it.)

Smart villain. (Making it feel like Hawks' family is threatened. Taking control of the narrative and ruining the public's trust he'd worked so hard to build. Burning him so extensively without killing him. Making it so that even if Hawks were somehow rescued and survived he would carry the pain forever.

Beaten in every sense of the word. Even if it makes them want to find that guy and punch him, they can't help but be impressed.)

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