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Type: Text
Sender ID: velocityraptor (Hawks)
To: Everyone
Subject: Hitchhiking
Warnings: Talk of severe bodily harm and maybe a bit of murder.

[ Anyone who happens to have one of Hawks' feathers, either because he gifted it, or they just happened to pick one up, will find that three days ago they darkened a shade or two as the connection to the man himself was cut off - they are now disconnected feathers, and would need to be replaced sometime in the future, if one still wanted one. ]

Hello! Sorry to trouble everyone, but I need a favour.

I'm on Eltrut, and I need a ride to either my crew's island or out to their ship, or something. It's not a rush, but if someone's willing to make the trip I can help out with chores on board, or even pay you if you get me back to my place.

[ Hawks has never, outside of MANTA board requests, set foot on a ship willingly for any length of time, in fact, usually he's flying where he wants to go.]

I appreciate it, thanks.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ 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.)

[ He is surprised, but he doesn't comment on that. Most people don't keep up with him in many senses of the world, but he and Dabi were playing some form of 3D chess.

At the question, he raises a hand like someone would maybe if they were shrugging, but he isn't moving his sore shoulders. ]

She left a note and fled, so I assume so. She wants nothing to do with me.

[ That's not quite how she phrased it, but it wasn't far off. The result is the same, she fled like a coward. ]

[ It may be incredibly far from the same situation, but he still can't help thinking of course she did.

...He wonders if Keigo actually read his.

He's also angry again, especially given he's pretty sure this woman doesn't actually deserve any forgiveness. ]

I'm sorry.

[ He'll leave it at that. He's not sure if expressing the anger would go over well, and Keigo already knows he relates on feeling unwanted. Chris doesn't need to. ]

...Your mother sucks.

(Blunt and rude as always.

Also still applying pressure to their hand.)

I didn't want to see her anyway.

[ The words of every defensive hurt kid, most likely, and there is hurt there, a wound that will likely always linger to some degree. Hurt and fear, but at the same time, he's also not lying. He didn't want to see her. He doesn't. ]

She doesn't deserve to see you.

[ He will be that negative, at least.

He looks up from the bandages—at least he's almost done—to check on Chris, and that seems like a while if they're still bleeding. ]

You okay?

[ He won't actually approach again. ]

(The bleeding is actually slowing down now. Looks like it's about time to wrap it up.)

I'm fine.

(Fortunately, they brought more bandages than Hawks is likely to need even with his extensive injuries. They'll use some of the extra to wrap their hand.)

Dick's right. You're better off without her.

(Back to rude nicknames again, apparently.)

[ At least Chris looks to be okay, he wants to help, but he knows Richie has it. He also knows that Chris is pretty touch averse and he understands their reaction perfectly. If they needed help, he's sure they would let them take care of it.

He pats Richie lightly in encouragement. He appreciates the effort he's putting in to bandage him. He shouldn't need them long, but it's appreciated. He knows he's burdening them at the moment. ]

When they buried the Takami name, they cut all ties between us, so it's not really like we're mother and son at all.

[ If that's how it works. ] But if he'd killed her, someone would have to make sure she was given a proper resting place. I don't know why he didn't. She didn't give details, she said in her note that they came in, she told them everything about me and my dad and then decided to leave so as not to cause me any trouble.

[ He was a spy, undercover, everything she just did caused him immense trouble. ]

I probably won't see her again. She added she was proud of me, but that seems like a load of shit, if you ask me.

Edited 2025-07-21 09:33 (UTC)

[ He bristles a bit at the nickname, but doesn't actually say anything. Maybe it's a good sign if things aren't too serious for them to be obnoxious? Sure, he'll go with that.

The little pat gets a faint smile, at least. Before his expression sours at the rest of the details about the note. It might be nice if any of that was true, but given what he knows he really doubts it. ]

Sounds like one to me, too. If she was she'd have made an effort.

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