InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "you are the one for me."

WARHAWK | “CALL THEM OFF, DAWN.” Warhawk soars through the air after Tattoo Dawn. Flaming, winged skull swarm and bite at him. Giant wasps try to sting him. The skeleton of a vulture tries to peck apart his throat. But he toughs it out and powers on through after her.

TATTOO DAWN | Tattoo Dawn flies ahead of Warhawk with hawk wings from her back. “No! NO! We’re taking him back! You gave him to her! You gave them to HER! I’ll tear her apart!”

WARHAWK | Warhawk unraveled a net and swung it ahead of him. Its wide reach snag Tattoo Dawn and entangles her. Charges running through the cords begin shocking her nervous system, and Warhawk pulls the net tight. He swings her around, smashing her through a window and discarding her into the building.

TATTOO DAWN | Tattoo Dawn hits and tumbles across the floor of some company’s storage loft. She is unable to free herself from the net, but fortunately for her, the living tattoo of a giant scorpion frees her with its claws. She rises to her feet just as Warhawk enters the building after her.

WARHAWK | Warhawk’s boots his the floor with a heavy thud, crushing a large wasp under it. He backhands a flying skull away from him, and shoulder cannon’s rise and blow apart the vulture skeleton in front of him.

TATTOO DAWN | Tattoo Dawn arches her back, and a club-wielding cyclops propels from a tattoo on her body. It charges straight for Warhawk.

WARHAWK | Warhawk folds in his wings and ducks low into the charging cyclops. He knocks its legs out from under it, letting it roll onto his back. He jolts upright with his wings outstretching, launching the thing out the broken window behind him. “Stop it, Dawn!”

TATTOO DAWN | Tattoo Dawn just grins. “I’ll kill you, baby.” Sending her scorpion at Warhawk, she sprouts her wings again and takes off.

WARHAWK | Warhawk falls back against the wall, knocked back by the force of catching the scorpion’s tail. He quickly whips it away from him and leaps up to intercept Tattoo Dawn. He catches her with one hand on her throat and slams her back down onto a stack of boxes. “Your fucking tattoos are going to get him killed!”

TATTOO DAWN | “Let me go!” Tattoo Dawn shrieks, thrashing at Warhawk with manifestations of daggers and barbed wire.

WARHAWK | Warhawk lets Tattoo Dawn up only enough to slam her right back down. His HUD display shows him the status of his bunker’s defenses, including how well the door is holding up. “Call them off!”

TATTOO DAWN | “I can’t!” Tattoo Dawn continues to struggle against Warhawk, but she has broken into tears. “I can’t do it!”

WARHAWK | “Yes, you can! Take fucking control for once!” Warhawk shouts at Tattoo Dawn. Most of her tattoos aren’t coming to her aid right now, because they’re committed to breaking into the bunker. His HUD continues to feed him information on the door buckling.

TATTOO DAWN | “I can’t!” Tattoo Dawn cries. “It’s the deal! They’re mine, and I’m theirs!” She bats ineffectively at Warhawk’s chestplate as the last of her tattoos leave her body and materialize elsewhere. “My flesh and blood is theirs. All of it...”

WARHAWK | “You’re not even trying!” It isn’t in Warhawk’s character to accept that things are beyond anyone’s control, and this sure as hell won’t be the exception.

TATTOO DAWN | Tattoo Dawn’s voice breaks, no longer sounding enraged or anything but panicked to tears. “Rex!” Her hands drop to the arm of Warhawk’s that is holding her down by her throat. “I can’t make it stop! You know that!”

WARHAWK | Warhawk says nothing. With his free hand, he tears off his helmet and drops it to the floor. His eyes just glare at Tattoo Dawn.

TATTOO DAWN | “I’m not strong! You -- you’re supposed to do it. This is what we have you for.” By now, Tattoo Dawn’s face is soaked by her tears. “You have to save us. Please, please, please... You always save us.”

WARHAWK | Rex continues to glare, trying his hardest not to let his expression crack. His wrist -- augmented by his gauntlet -- flicks sharply to one side, accompanied by a pop from her neck and her crying eyes suddenly becoming hollow.

Tattoo Dawn’s limp body slides off the boxes after Rex removes his hand. He drops to his knees along with her, catching and pulling her into his lap before she hits the floor. He reaches aside for his helmet and lifts it to his face, where the communicator can hear him.

“It’s clear. Take Marty home.”

Saying nothing more, he tosses the helmet aside again so he can hold Tattoo Dawn’s body in both his arms.