A Taste For Chicken

Halcyon - Part Seven

Hawks slumped in his seat, letting out a deep sigh. He glanced at the stack of applications before shifting his gaze to Owl, who was diligently reviewing some of them. Sorting through countless applications for positions at Nest was definitely not what Hawks had anticipated with an agency, but he should have seen it coming. His rapidly rising approval rating was nothing to scoff at, and his name was spreading fast.

"Well, I've narrowed it down to who I believe would be our best fits," Owl said, setting down a stack of papers, "I do agree that letting in more than solely bird-like heroes is the right call, but are we sure we still need the restriction for wings?"

"I guess we really don't need to do that," Hawks said with a lazy wave of his hand, "Just felt like we should stick to something with birds."

"Well, what if it was anything that lives in a Nest?" Kiwi suggested, "Like... Uhhh... Squirrels and stuff?"

"I mean..." Hawks narrowed his eyes, staring up at the lights above on the ceiling, "I dunno. I'm not really all that picky really. Let's just fill up the slots with whoever seems best. We really just need to have enough coverage so a restriction is kind of silly anyway."

"Alright," Owl agreed, "Then I will--"

"Actually," Hawks pushed himself up in his chair and pointed at Owl, "How about you handle this? You're good at this kind of thing, yeah?"

Owl chuckled, "I suppose in a way, yes," he raised his eyebrow as Hawks got to his feet, his bright wings stretching as the younger man glanced at his phone, "I'll take care of this. I'm sure you're eager to work on Halcyon's case."

Hawks grinned and asked with more than a hint of sarcasm, "Whaaat? Why would you say that?"

"What else needs to be done before we can bring her home?" Kiwi asked as she glanced over a few of the rejected applications.

"We have all the evidence we need and Eraser's support," Hawks explained, "I've got to go shake up the police for their reports today. That should be plenty to get her put on parole with us."

"Ugh," Kiwi scoffed, "Well tell them off again while you're there. They're half-assing their response times down town again. Guess they thought we wouldn't find out."

Hawks grit his teeth, "I'm so sick of this shit. Why can't they just get it together?" Picking up his headset, he placed it around his neck while heading towards the door, "I'm over it with that police chief. This is his last chance. We'll drop the bomb on him if he doesn't take this warning seriously."

"I think you should just do it," Kiwi said, pointing at Hawks, "He's such an asshole. Why bother giving him another chance?"

Hawks gave a nonchalant shrug, a relaxed grin tugging at the corners of his mouth, "I'd like to believe he's got a soft spot in there somewhere."

"Well you're way more optimistic than me," Kiwi huffed, "I'd have that man outta there so fast."

With one last wave, Hawks headed out. Towards the main doors, he passed by the secretary desk, and tried to give a genuine smile but the shiver down his spine probably made him look insane. The four armed woman, Ms. Shiori as he'd come to learn, was staying on permanently as the head secretary as a reward from the HPSC.

She was honestly incredible and had already assembled a small team that was organizing past records and updating whatever Halcyon had been doing before. However, Hawks couldn't help but feel unnerved when he saw her. Her thin black eyes always stared through his soul like a knife and she just down right didn't seem to like him.

"I'll be back in a little while, Miss Shiori," he said with his pleasant PR smile.

"Yes, sir." She replied tersley, then returned to her business at the desk without another word.