Flying Free: My Hero Evolution Wings of Change (X-Men/My hero crossover)

Chapter 30: Flying Away

"You overrated, underperforming fake. All these people you care about so dearly and you can do nothing to save them. I will make sure you die last so you can watch each of them perish."

Hawks jerks awake. The recurring nightmare was no less terrifying the second time around. Looking over, he sees Jean sleeping peacefully at her desk.

What am I doing here? I'm just going to hurt her. It's only a matter of time before she finds out I really am overrated.

Hawks slides out of her bed, replacing the covers, then tiptoes out the door and back to his room. While his insides stir uncontrollably, his body feels tired and hopeless.

Maybe they all will be better off without me here. What if I can't save them? I just admitted to her and my dad I had a nightmare. I'm a 23 year old man and just ran to my daddy because I had a bad dream. I'm such a joke.

As he makes his way back into the solidarity of him room, Hawks breathes deeply, which becomes more like a sigh when something else replays in his head.

"Kei, do you want to sleep in my room with me?" What was I thinking telling them? Am I really this pathetic?

Hawks throws himself on his bed. "GAAAHHH!" He screams.

*****

The next thing he knows, Hawks is awakened by the sun shining in his window. He looks over at his clock, rubs his eyes and looks again. 1:53 pm.

"Seriously?!" He exclaims, jumping out of bed.

***
Hawks looks at his phone before walking into the training room. 2:08pm. He sighs before opening the door.

On the other side of the door, Jean is sitting with her arms crossed, very obviously unamused.

"Training started at 2, Hawks." She says coldly.

"Jean, I'm sorry, I-"

"Just leave your excuses at the door. We have training to do, then you can get back to whatever is more important."

"Jean, will you just listen?"

"We're going to work on telepathy today." Jean continues as if Hawks had not just been begging for an ounce of space to explain. "Or if you need to leave, please do so now and don't waste my time."

"No, I want to be here. With you. Always."

"Oh my gosh, Hawks, stop. We're here to train. Anything you do after that is your business, not mine."

"Jean just-" he looks up at her eyes, usually so warm, now ice cold. "GAAAHHH!" Hawks screams, then runs out of the training room, bumping into Rogue as he turns the corner down the hall.

"Where ya off to so fast, Hawks?"

Of all the fucking people?! Worst. Day. Ever.

Hawks stops and looks back at Rouge, standing across from him with her arms crossed over her chest. Hawks, seeing her for the first time since she saved his life, looks back at Rogue, noticing first a mending cut on her face as if a reminder of how close they both were to death.

Despite Hawks' wings drooping behind him, he tries to deflect. "To my room, where else would I be going?"

"What was that back there with ya and miss popular? You two rarely fight. Plus, never seen her that upset. What did ya do to her?"

"It's really nothing you need to know Rouge. It is between the two of us."

Hawks walks past her, shoving his hands into the pocket of his gray shorts, which begin buzzing almost immediately. I guess there's no rest for the wicked, Hawks thinks as he digs his phone out of his pocket.

*****

Visibly distraught, Hawks is still on his phone as he enters the hanger, not noticing Kitty, sitting in the back of the X- jet.

"How many are we talking here?" Hawks says to the person the other line.

"Ten?!?"

"C'mon, can't you get some lower rank hero or, Ooo.. better yet, Endeavor? Yeah get him to do it. I am a busy guy after all. I can't always be at your beckon call."

"I understand. I'll be there in 4 hours."

"I don't care if you don't like it. It's gonna take me that long to get to you guys so deal with it."

"You don't need to know my location. I'm on my way right now so cool your jets." As Hawks sits down in the pilot seat of the X-Jet, he takes in the hilarity of his comment. Well, even when the whole day goes to shit, at least I'm still hilarious.

Kitty, despite the rule to not be in the X-jet, was in the back of the jet doing schoolwork when Hawks entered. She is just about to phase through the X-Jet to sneak back to her room when she hears Hawks' conversation.

"Stop pulling those damn strings already and leave them be!" Hawks snaps at the person on the other line, wings bristling and fluffing. "I said I'll be there and I will, don't bring the X-Men into this."

Upon hearing this, Kitty instead phases into the cargo hold.

Hawks hangs up his phone and tosses it over his shoulder haphazardly where it slides towards Kitty's hiding place in the Jet. She squints to read the name of the caller — HPSC.

As Hawks lifts the jet into the air, he looks over at the mansion. He is flooded with thoughts of Jean and how he longs to rewind time back to last night in her bed.

"There's no way I come out on top, not in my current condition. What if I never see her again? I can't tell the the Safety Commission I'm injured. I might not make it out of this mission alive. If I do, I definitely won't be in one piece."

"That's why I'm here." Kitty says, phasing her head through the cockpit doors.

Hawks whips his head around. "What the hell?! Kitty?! What are you doing here?!"

"I was, like, doing homework in the jet and heard you on the phone. It sounds like you're up against a rock and a hard place and could totally use some help."

"Who, me?" Hawks responds. "What help would a pro hero like me need from a fledgling like you?"

"Fledgling? Get real Hawks, I'm, like, just as skilled as any pro hero, and you know it."

"But-"

"You, like, need help. Not to mention, if you try to take me back home, you'd be ratting yourself out, too."

"I work better on my own."

"Hawks, you're not fooling anyone. You're injured and in no condition to fight. I am on my way to an unknown location for an unknown mission from an unknown person named HPSC. Are you going to give me some information so I'm not in the dark or am I going to end up like Rogue?"

"That was a low blow, Kit-Kat, but you're right, I could use some help and I am sorry for being a jerk. But if I'm going to let you help me, you must follow my orders to a 'T'. The hero work I do is dangerous and use of quirks without a license is not allowed without a hero giving permi-"

"If I wanted a lecture I would have stayed home. Let's go kick some butt."