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Morgan had been briskly walking down an alleyway, looking for any new surveillance equipment the city might have installed after the crime spree him and his crew had been on for the past month. The city had just gotten a new police commisoner and every villain with brains knew that a transfers of power was always the best time to commit a crime. Plus this new commissioner seems to have taken a personal offense to all the crime in Capital City. Morgan coukd tell that this guy was going to be a problem for a lot of the lower ranked villains and while Morgan was still a d tier, he did have a higher success rate among his fellow low-rankers and felt it was important to give the commissioner a hard time first since he had the resources to spare.
Why's Morgan the one looking for surveillance instead of one of his crew members if he had so many resources, you may ask? Well he promised Karen some time off and he needed to excersize more anyway.
Morgan casually looks around for any new cameras when he spots a brightly colored bug scuttling alot some wires above him. It wasn't a big concern, it was Capital City, Morgan had seem stranger things, but the strange multicolored liquid that seem to be coming out of one of its legs was odd enough to get Morgan's attention.
"Hey," Morgan called out to the creature, motioning for it to come closer. The creature eagerly complied, blinking its large eyes at Morgan once it flew down.
"Hello civilian, how can I help you tonight?" A sweet, almost child-like voice creeper into Morgan's head. It wasn't until it was hovering in front of Morgan that he recognized the tell rail signs of a hero costume. The bird logo with an 'H' on it was the bugs only article of clothing, and the mask that didn't actually hide anything were dead give aways to this thing being a hero.
Normally Morgan would have ran away the minute he realized it was a hero, but the creature sounded young and it was pretty late at night, shouldn't this kid be home by now?
"Um.. are you ok?" Morgan asked.
"Yes, I am completely functioning at 95% capacity." The bug creature reports.
"But your hand, er, I mean your leg? It's injured." Morgan pointed out.
"Oh fear not, it is but a flesh wound, thank you for your concern though." If Morgan was just a bit more naive, he might have believed the kid but he noticed how it was lightly twitching all legs but the one that was injured, keeping the injured leg fully still as if it's like depended on it.
"You're a hero aren't you?" Morgan forced excitement into his voice, trying his best to appear awestruck.
"Yes! My name is Hawk the Hero!" It said with pride, "how may I be of assisstance?"
"You know I could use some help with this really tricky box I got, it's been giving me trouble for months." Morgan exaggerated his helplessness to convince the kid to come back to his Lair so Morgan could patch him up, and then find it's parents and knock some sence into them. Then he was going to track down any adult heroes this kid might associate with and beat the crap out of them too.
Morgan was no expert of aliens and their biology, but this particular bug acted naive and child-like; it didn't take a genius to figure that out.
"Um... sir?" Hawk lands on a nearby trashcan and waves a leg to get Morgan's attention.
"You can just call me Morgan."
"Morgan, I'm normally really strong, and tough, and practically invincible! Uh... but my wings are getting tired...." Hawk has a slight whine to it's telepathic voice. Morgan, being pretty good at readying people, knew when a kid was trying to get him to carry them.
"Well we can't have that, you gotta be well rested if your going to help this poor citizen." Morgan says, picking Hawk up from his purch on the trashcan and begins to walk to Morgan's Lair.
~~~
"You know, I can patch up your leg before we take a look at the box, Hawk." Morgan offers as he enters the center of his Lair. His main lab is located at the center of a maze, and his lab has a direct portal to his apartment that only he could use. An extremely old Glam Rock Witch had given him it in exchange for his old toaster and Morgan wasn't stupid enough to turn that deal down. Plus he only had to open a door to get to his Lair now instead of driving halfway across the city. It also made escapes super easy since only he could use the door.
"I'm fine," Hawk tries to reassure Morgan but the villain wasn't born yesterday, Hawk was still refusing to move that leg and it was still bleeding.
"I gotta insist buddy, plus it won't be that much of a hassle." Morgan puts the Zeranid down on his plush rug in the center of the room. It was usually used as a cusion between Morgan and the floor for nights when Morgan would work so long that he'd collapse in his Lair.
Picking up the first aid kit, Morgan solved the box within a second to being out some antiseptic wipes, medical tape, and a short bandage wrap.
"Wow! You opened that box pretty fast!" Hawk said as Morgan began to treat its leg. "Are you sure you need my help?"
"Oh definitely, this new box is way more complex, plus if I don't open it in time, my little friend will be trapped forever." Morgan exaggerates his sadness. Truth be told he was planning on giving Ducky the puzzle box for his birthday in a few months, the box had a little stuffed bear in it since a bear was all Ducky could shape-shifting into.
"There we go, good as new!" Morgan smiled at his handy work. He normally wasn't the best when if came to treating injuries, but he felt he had to put more effort when he's patching up a kid, even if that kid was a hero.
"Morgan?" Hawk said, "Can I help you now?"
"Of course, not that your all bandaged up, your all good to help me. You know, as a hero you gotta ensure your own safety first before you can help others." Morgan added, hoping this little tidbit of advice would stick to the kid. Morgan knew of way too many heroes, both young and old, neglected their own health in favor of helping others.
Chad, Diego, Dave, Ohio, and even Barnaby had all overworked themselves at different points, and Morgan had tried his best to both be there for them and get them to stop pushing themselves to that point. Some still ignore Morgan's advice but other had taken it to heart.
Speaking of Barnaby, Morgan sent a quick text to him, asking him to look into a Hero named Hawk, he was one of the few heroes Morgan could regularly trust to hear him out on his plans. Hawkwas still on the rug but had found the puzzle box and was slowly solving the thing.
~~~
An echo of a snap is heard throughout the center of Morgan's lair. Superior, an A Tier hero, probably one of the best A Tier heroes, was standing there in all his glory.
Most of his outfits had some combination of white and gold or black with a touch of rainbow to match his multicolored eyes. It was no secret how fashionable Superior was, it was even speculated that he made himself look handsome so his villains would give up villainy in an effort to get closer to him. Morgan didn't fully believe that but he could see why tjose particular people would think that since Superior was one of the only heroes with a costume design that didn't make him want to laugh.
"Hello fiend," Superior spoke politely as ever before he slightly dropped the pleasantries, "Where is my child."
"Are you talking about Hawk?" Morgan asks as he points to his fuzzy carpet were Hawk is playing with Morgan's latest puzzle box. It was about half the kids size but it had made some pretty good progress on solving it.
"Oh," Superior seem to calm down once he saw how much fun Hawk was having.
"Did you just teleport directly to my base?" Morgan's, knowing full well that he did in fact do that.
"Yeah," Superior answered with a slight tinge of guilt to his voice, as if he knew he probably should have gone through the building like a proper heroes would have done.
"Ya mind going back to the start and actually going through the building?" Morgan's tone makes it clear that this is exactly what he wants Superior to do.
Superior takes one last glance at Hawk before nodding, "Yeah that's fair."
Another snap echos through the room, letting Morgan know that the hero was back at the start of the maze.
Morgan, now turning his attention back to Hawk, starts asking Hawk about it's home life. He quickly learned that Hawk didnt attend school, didn't have any friends that weren't Alex's friends, and almost never had any supervision while at home or when it went out to be a hero.
"Does your dad know about you going out so late at night?" Morgan isn't really wondering if Superior knowns, you'd have to be especially stupid to not know this about your own kid, Morgan simply wanted to know if Superior was doing anything to protect this kid while it was out on the streets.
"Dad, doesn't care. He said I'm his kid so I'm strong enough to be a hero." Hawk telepathically beams with joy. That's the exact thing Morgan had been dreading to hear.
Hawk was 7, not even a decade old, but was out at night getting beat up by strangers. He knew from the files he hacked from the Fairness Association (Barnaby didnt have any answers for Morgan) that Hawk was a zeranid and that they were especially durable, but that didn't change the fact that Hawk was so young. Yes Morgan also knew that Hawk was incredibly intelligent as well, but that doesn't mean it was mature enough to be doing this.
It had no structure in its life, no one to turn to besides its parent, who was on other worlds almost weekly. Morgan couldn't just listen to this kid talk about how little he interacted with people who weren't trying to kill him and do nothing, so he started making a plan, one where Hawk would get all the things a kid his age should have.
~~~
"Morgan" Hawk calls out to get Morgan's attention.
"Yes? Oh- Wow!" Morgan turned away from his computer to see that Hawk had completely solved the puzzle box.
"Look!" Hawk holds up the big teddy bear Morgan had hid in the box for Hawk.
"Hawk that was so good! You got that solved in.. 3 hours!" Morgan praised.
"Can I keep it?" Hawk asks as it's grip on the briar tightened.
"Of course Buddy, you earned it! I was having so much trouble getting that box opened, you really help me out." Morgan can get a new bear for Ducky, his birthday was a couple if months away, plus he felt obligated to give Hawk as much positive reinforcement as he could. He might be projecting a little, but if Hawk's home life is anything like Morgan's than it would need a positive force that did appreciate it for things beyond its powers.
"Thanks Morgan," the kid then nuzzle the bears soft face before turning back to Morgan. "When's dad gonna be here?"
"I don't know kiddo." Morgan realizes that it had been quite a long time, almost and hour and a half. What could be keeping an A Tier from reaching his own kid?
"Let's go see what's taking him so long." Morgan gently grabs Hawk, carrying it the same way that Physician Talon carried his cats, and went to go see what Superior was doing that was taking him so long.
~~~
When gets to the second level, he realized Superior was in a spike pit. Morgan made sure to cover Hawk's eyes, not wanting it to be traumatized by the maiming of its own father. Superior glares up at Morgan, causing him to smile in amusement.
"How'd you manage this?" Morgan asks.
"I think there was a tripwire." Superior growls out.
"And you didn't see it?"
"Isn't that the point of a tripwire." Superior states.
"I don't think I've ever seem anyone get stuck... on the second level." Morgan was actually impressed an A Tier superhero could fuck up this badly.
"Just get me out." Morgan was partially tempted to just let him suffer but decides that it would probably be worst for Hawk's mental health if it knew its parent bleed out on some simple death traps.
Morgan quickly pressed a hidden button on the side of the room, raising the pit floor but letting the spikes sink back down below.
Superior healed pretty rapidly, and only seem to be uncomfortable for a brief moment.
"Thanks, now give me back my kid." Superior holds out his hand as it telling Morgan to just hand the kid over.
Morgan, looking unimpressed, simply turned around and began to walk back to the center of his Lair. Superior followed behind, limping and trying to coex Hawk to come back to him but apparently the kid liked the way Morgan held it since it was ignoring Superior.
Once they made it back to the center of the base, Hawk abandoned Morgan in favor of its bear.
"Ok what's your deal?" Superior incredulously asked, "why the fuck did you steal my kid?"
Morgan, remembering how the night had originally started, was insulted by this accusation. "I didn't steal your kid, I found Hawk out on the street. At night. When it was injured."
The judgement was clear in Morgan's voice, and must not have been enticipated given how shocked Superior's face was.
"Oh."
"Oh. Oh? That's all you have to say for yourself?" Morgan keeps his voice even so as not to draw Hawk's attention back to the adults.
"Your Child, a 7 year old, is out in the middle of the night with no supervision, and all you can say for yourself is 'oh'?"
Superior remains silence, clearly stunned that anyone would ever question a heroes thoughtless actions. Morgan could feel his rage bubble up, he wanted so badly to yell at this smug bastard but stopped himself. He briefly recalls a time where Diego had cried to him about over hearing their mom and dad fight over their training, and how overhearing that fight had affected Diego so much. He couldn't bring himself to yell at Superior in front of Hawk, not without causing Hawk trouble, so instead decided to let Superior leave.
Superior finally brings himself to say something but is cut off by Morgan, "Just leave."
"Hawk," Superior calls the kid over, "We're gonna go home now." Hawk flies over to its parent and attaches itself to Superiors arm, still holding thecstuffed bear. The indifference Superior shows to Hawk as it clings to its only parent, steals Morgan's resolve. This wasn't over.
~~~
The next time Morgan "kidnapped" Hawk was when the kid was out patrolling, unsupervised again. The only brightside was that the kid was at least out during the day, so there were plenty of other heroes around.
"Hello again Mr. Morgan." Hawk greets Morgan as Morgan takes a seat in the park. Morgan had just robbed an ATM, got chased for about seven blocks before he hid in the park they were not speaking in, but the kid didn't need to know that.
"You can just call me Morgan, Hawk." Morgan corrects, "shouldn't you be in school?"
"No, dad said I don't need to go to school." Hawk says as it sits down on the back of the bench, absent-mindedly picking at the moss that had grown on it.
"Your just that smart?"
"Yeah!"
"Well you know school just isn't for learning, you get to make friends and play with them too." Morgan points to a pair of teenagers, probably playing hookie, as his example.
"Really?" Hawk seemed intrigued by the idea. Morgan was once again reminded of how isolated Hawk must be, which only solidified Morgan resolve, he was going to go forward with his plans on helping Hawk, even if said plan was insane.
"Hey Hawk?"
"Yes Morgan?"
"How would you like to go shopping? I'm building a new room for my house and I think I might need some help picking out the decorations." Hawk agreed instantaneously.
~~~
"Ok so we got blue paint for the walls, green carpeting for the floor and those hanging shelves, glow in the dark stars, hanging pod beds, and..." Morgan quickly looked over his shopping cart again, "Anything else you think we might need?"
Hawk taps it's chin in thought; it's eyes grew wipe in excitement, with one leg, Hawk pointed at the toy section of the store.
"Great idea, a room needs more than just furniture." Morgan agrees, pushing the cart over to that section. By the end of the shopping trip, their cart was heavy and full of a bright cacophony of colorful items that burned Morgan's eyes, but this stuff was for Hawk's room not Morgan's. This kid was gonna have a space for itself were it could express itself however it wanted, and not even Superior could change that.
Looking back at the cart, Morgan winced at the calculated price of everything. All this stuff was gonna be expensive, but it's not like it's Morgan's money anyway.
~~~
Painting, carpeting, and furniture assembly was pretty easy, but also time consuming, the two at least had fun putting everything in place.
"Should we put the bed here or more towards the center of the room?" Morgan asked Hawk. Several of the hanging beds had been put up and there were two really good spots that this last bed could go in.
"Um, Morgan. This has been really fun, but should you decorate the room with who ever's gonna sleep here," Hawk asked as it was putting the stars on the ceiling.
"Oh did I forget to tell you?" Morgan says, "this is your room silly! I thought you might like a place to get some rest after long nights of patrolling the city."
"This is my room!" Hawk didn't need to project its joy into Morgan's head, it was evident by chittering and purring that come right after Morgan revealed his true intentions.
"It sure is Buddy, now where should we hang the bed?"
~~~
It had been a few days since Hawk had helped Morgan decorate it's room, which was concerning to Morgan. Superior hadn't shown up at the apartment or anywhere near the Lair but also wasn't in the news at all.
Morgan contemplated asking Barnaby to give him some information but he knew Barnaby wasn't taken seriously because of his rank and couldn't do much for him. Worst case scenario, Superior was dead and Hawk would get custodians who could actually give this kid a proper childhood and if not... well Morgan already had a plan that would work weither Superior was dead or not.
~~~
It only took a couple of days for Morgan to inact his plan. One day to gather all the info he needed, including the legal papers he had to forge, two days to fill out the paperwork, and one day to get everything finalized. Was everything he did in those four days legal? No, not in any sense of the word, but it all looked legal ands all that really matters.
Hawk had been here for a full week without anyone looking for him and Morgan had only been able to convince the kid to stay home and sleep about halfway through the week. Like Morgan, it seemed the kid didn't need as much sleep as a regular human, but it seemed much more productive and energetic now that it has a daily routine to follow. This only strengthen Morgan's confidence in his decision.
Now all that was left to do was finish up the last few gem studs on Hawk's backpack and Hawk would be all ready for it's big day tomorrow. Morgan wasn't very talented when it come to the art of textiles (sewing; crocheting, embroidery, ect) but he was willing to stay up all night if it ment getting Hawk's backpack just right.
A familiar echo of a snap is heard from behind Morgan. He knew who was not looking over his sitting form but was not going to acknowledge the hero first.
"What are you doing?" Superiors voice is unreadable, Morgan couldn't even tell if the guy is angry or amused.
"Not much." Morgan nonchalantly said.
"That's my color scheme... why are you making a backpack with MY color scheme?"
"Because you don't have any merch." Or at least none that wasn't fan made and wildly inappropriate.
"Are you like, obsessed with me?" Superior sounded a little too amused with that sentiment.
"No, but Hawk needs a backpack for tomorrow and I figured one with it's parent's color scheme would be nice. Plus I thought you might be dead or something so I thought it'd be a nice gift for Hawk." Morgan casually says.
"Y- wha-" Superior fumbles for words before trying to grab the backpack from Morgan.
"First of all! I wouldn't die to anything! Ever!" Morgan stabs Superior with a pin for his attempts at trying to steal the backpack form Morgan. This only resulted in the pin bending. "Second of all! Why would Hawk even need a backpack?"
"For school." Morgan can't help but smirk, knowing the hero had no clue what Morgan had been able to pull while the hero was off somewhere.
"You are not send my kid to school, it's my kid." Superior uses a rational voice to speak, not fully believing that the villain was serious. He begins to doubt that notion when the villain turns to face Superior.
"Technically! Technically it's Our kid." Morgan confidently says.
"No it's not, you weren't even there when Hawk was made." Superior chuckles at the strange villain who keeps kidnapping his kid.
"Yeah but, legally it's my kid too." Morgsn argues. The two are now engaged in a stare down with Superior trying to tell if the villain was bluffing and Morgan waiting for Superior to say something so he can dramatically reveal his completed plan.
"How? How is he your Legally?" Superior put his hands on his hips and raised an eyebrow that Morgan, doubt still clearly written all over his face.
Morgans smirk then turnd into a warm smile as he slowly makes his way over to his junk drawer and pulls out a few papers. Morgan shakes the papers in Superiors direction, enticing the hero to grab them.
"You have to be fucking kidding me..." Superior cursed as he looked over the documents."Ok how did you get my legal name, my address, and my signature?"
"Wouldn't you like to know, rainbow boy." Morgan spoke as he confidently leaned onto the counter.
"So you not only kidnapped my kid, now you've straight up just stole it." Supetoor frowns deeply, glaring daggers at the villain.
"Woah! Hey! It is not stealing!" Morgan argues, "your still Hawk's parent... its just that now you just got a co parent!"
Morgan tries to make it sound like he was doing Superior a favor (he was only doing this for Hawk really), but Superior isn't buying it.
"I don't need a co-parent, I'm raising Hawk just fine on my own." Superior glares as Morgan lifted an eyebrow, as if doubting his words.
"Yes you do." Morgan factually states, "Hawk has no friends, no hobbies, and you haven't even given him a proper education. I was able to hett Hawk all of that within the week that you've been gone."
"What do you mean?" Suoerior asks. "You did not put my kid in school without my permussion!"
"Our kid!" Morgan corrects, "and yes, it's going to start school tomorrow. And you can't say no because I already made it a cute little backpack."
Morgan holds up the backpack, but pulls it away when Superior reach for it again.
"Fine," Superior reluctantly agrees, "but only because that backpack is adorable."