Iron Station Savage Masks IC IV

[Roguewolf]

November 1st
Keith
Hadley sniffles, wiping her eyes with her hands as Crowe speaks to them. She nods as her sister gives her another hug.

Before he goes to talk to Hayden, Zephyr lands next to Crowe and introduces herself to the girls, ushering them over to the sidewalk. Harper especially seems to be excited to talk to the heroine.

Crowe offers a comforting smile as Hadley nods. "I know it's hard too, but you're doin' awesome." He exhales a bit in relief as Zephyr comes over and starts to usher the girls to the sidewalk. He could definitely understand Harper's excitement. He hoped he'd at least have another chance to talk to the heroine later.

"Thanks," He'll say quietly to Zephyr as he can.

Hayden suddenly stands, looking with wide eyes at Crowe. Several tears start to slip down his cheeks that he quickly wipes away with his sleeves. “You don’t get it. I did this,” he whispers. He gains volume as he continues. “I thought it would be cool to be part of the Rooks, so… I was trying to join— to get away, ya know, from my dad, my sisters.”

He looks away, back down at the street. “I take care of them all the time, when Dad’s at work and I was *****in’ tired of it. I thought that maybe if I was making some money too, he wouldn’t have to work so much, so I’d sneak out at night. I-I robbed a lady,” he chokes out, closing his eyes to ward off the memory.

“She didn’t want to give up her purse, so I slashed at her with my knife,” he murmurs, hand going unconsciously to his pocket. “I didn’t mean to actually hit her, but I did. There was a lot of blood. I don’t know where I actually got her, but I took her purse and ran. I-I didn’t know she was one of Lady Orchid’s girls.”

“I got a text yesterday from the Rook that I’d been talking to that the set had gotten wind of what I’d done, that I was basically dead. I ignored it, ya know? I didn’t think they knew me, b-but they did. They *****in’ knew everything.” He can’t help the tears now, and breaks down, squeezing his eyes shut as his entire body shakes.

Crowe's eyes widen and he nods, taking a shadowy cloth from his pocket and handing it to Hayden.

"To be honest, I understand more than you know. Not quite the same situation but pissed off a villain and they figured out who I was and all." It wasn't the full truth, but it was something he could equate it to.

"Gettin' one of the gang's members not knowin' who they were though. Seems like it would be very common so it could have just been who it was. And this was the other day? What's the name of the Rook as well, may know a guy that can help get to the bottom of this and try to get them off your back."

Crowe looks between the car, the teen, and the sisters before turning entirely back to Hayden. "In the end, you were tryin' to help your family. No one can fault you there. Harper and Hadley are gonna need you for a good bit. Give me the info you got, and what you know about who the woman was and I'll see what all we can dig up. Can talk about possibly getting a decent protective detail on ya too.

He taps the commlink for a second to talk with Mimi. "Mimi, is there a way we can get them in protective custody? At least while Marrow is still out and about." Crowe thinks for a moment and it seemed a bit overkill for Marrow to be after the kid. Given he was second in command of his set. Something did add up there unless he just wanted to.

He returned his full focus to Hayden. "Hey, Hayden, thank you for tellin' me this. And, as much as I know you're tired of it all, they're gonna need you now man. Your sisters look at you as their hero. They don't need to know this part of it, but you're their rock. And yeah, you already know this." Crowe offers a hand. "Be their hero a bit so we can get this situated and straightened out for ya. Gonna check up on the girl you mentioned and figure out if she's alright and who in that set she's connected to."

"And as promised, this stays here."

Metal grinds as Mercury slowly pries open the door. He looks in and shakes his head, seeing how the man is pinned by the steering column.

I’m going to let EMS move him, Mercury lets Crowe know through Stolas. He’s way too badly injured for me to do anything for him.

Crowe glances over at Mercury and nods, projecting back to him. "Hate hearin' it, but thanks for the update, Mercury. He still has a pulse and is breathing right?

He takes a deep breath. "I just found out why Marrow was after them too. The dad wasn't the target. At least not the primary one anyway. Know it's been a while but I wanna ask Ryker a few things about Marrow and the Palisades set. Tryin' to get a bit more from the kid about the why but, he was the target. Also askin' Mimi about setting up some kinda protective detail on the kids."

Crowe closes his eyes for a second. "Do you think Seraph would be able to heal him enough to get him out?."