[Open][Post Evil Baby] Regeneration

[gorobo]

[CW: death, robotic gore]

Despair, the last thing he feels before death claims him. Falcon thought he could do it- seal away the evil he'd seen in this tape, it's what he was made for, after all.

But in the end, he was too weak. He was overwhelmed- destroyed in one single attack. 

All that is left is some pieces of burnt scrap metal near the top level of Mementos, unrecognizable for what they once were.

------

Not long after the chaos of the memory tapes, a glow appears in the Velvet Room. At first, it doesn't look like much- it's hard to even tell what it is. Slowly but surely, however, wires, circuits, and other mechanical parts become discernible, though it still takes a long time before anything truly recognizable becomes apparent. Falcon's naked circuitry renders him barely identifiable, almost Terminator-like, a rather gruesome image without his mesh to hide all the machinery underneath. 

At his desk, Igor's grinning, as always, although next to him is a frowning Margaret. She looks concerned as she watches the slowly regenerating body, her arms crossed, her spine straight.

"... This cannot continue," she says, "we still don't know how he got in. We gave him a chance, but..."

Igor hums, closing his buldging eyes.

"It seems we will need to take other measures." His eyes open again. "Margaret, if you please."

"Of course," she says, and turns around to leave.

Igor stays in his seat, watching as Falcon slowly regenerates from nothing.

Comments

[fogboundcrow]

Raven freezes at the sight of Falcon's reforming body, face paling, heart threatening to burst from his chest. It's...

No.

"W-What...?" His voice, raw and hoarse, cracks. His eyes burn, vision blurring from a torrent of tears ready to burst, and he runs, rushes closer.

How can this be...?

[gorobo]

But Falcon cannot react to Raven's tears, dead to the world as he is. His limbs are just barely starting to reform, mostly just looking like a mess of wires and metal. His empty eyes stare ahead, unblinking and inhuman, holes in place of the proper, eye-like structure they're supposed to have.

[vessel_ken_amada]

Ken runs after Raven. He is not going to leave him alone. He is not going to leave him unprotected.

But he too stops when seeing Falcon's current state. He never liked him, but to see him like this...

[fogboundcrow]

Raven's too taken aback to notice Ken at first. He just sits there, trying to hold back his tears and failing miserably.

[vessel_ken_amada]

Ken slowly crouches and slowly wraps his arms around Raven, letting him get away at any time if he is not comfortable.

[fogboundcrow]

"Oh." That's okay. He'll accept the embrace, hugging back tighter than usual.

[vessel_ken_amada]

"I'm sorry."

He hugs Raven as tight as he can without hurting him. He tried to make him feel all his comfort.

Whoever made him so devastated would pay.

[linkclickakira]

You would think witnessing two most traumatic moments of your life in the form of digital entertainment would be the worst of it. You would think that the only way is forward and distract yourself from the inevitable design of how terrible his timing and his existence is in a plane of existence that meant absolutely nothing.

And yet.

When he's here, investigating- again- just to get rid of this one tape on his person that continues to function as a parasite at this point; he notices a flicker of brightness at the corner of his sunglasses. He flinches, hand already curled around the whip hooked to his back as he turns- the notepad scribbled with information and clues falling to the ground and his watch already flickering- black, as the whip isn't being currently used.

He stops, lips parting as he watches the scene.

Robotic framework.

Falcon.

For a moment, Kira thinks he's doomed. He's gone full teriminator mode and he has the whip out- muscle memory and then he hears Margaret's voice.

"we still don't know how he got in. We gave him a chance, but..."

"Excuse me?" He speaks when Margaret turns around to leave. She pauses, offering a glare but that doesn't deter Akira- those words are not good news. "Don't fucking look at me like that! Who's in here?!"

"We will handle it, Akira Kurusu."

Panic rushes in. If the velvet room and its attendants are acting like this...

He takes a deep breath. "Uh huh. Maybe come up with more believable bullshit next time, bitch."

Margaret's eyes flare.

"Leave us, Margaret. Please."

And just like that- she's gone. Akira glares before his focus shifts- back to Falcon. He looks again and to be honest- he would have loved to push but right now...the sight is awaiting at the sofa.
Well, its everything he wanted.

He tucks in his notepad and slowly walks over to the deadbody.

Its a horrific sight. He can make out the tiny frameworks built within Falcon's body. The sheer human genius that must have went into each part- its horrific to look at but in some fucked up way- it feels as if he deserves this. They both get to see each other like this- at their lowest; naked and this time Kira is here to collect his fruit. The body has suffered- clearly. He suffered in his last moments.

"You have made quiet the entrance today, Gorobo. Someone really had it out for you, huh? To make you end up here, a glorified paperweight on a dirty couch."

He snickers- insides growing mush as he remembers his own tapes. Those sleepless seven nights. Food monitored like he's a damn pet. People watching him as he used the washroom. Deprived of his sight. Hands cuffed to the table. The day when Shido ripped away most of his innocence like it meant nothing. Seven days of pure torture and this robot was spreading out rumors of him like he was the fucking messiah.

Fucker.

There's a laugh. It grows. Akira hunches in on himself as he watches the sight and right now- he isn't carrying the face of Akechi. "Who did you play messiah for, hm?" His voice lilts into a low tone. "You know its so funny because..."

He cups his cheek- or hell where the cheek would be where he feels cold metal. Two LEDS stare back at him, red but blinking slow. "You are in your own metal casket and yet- you have never felt more human to me."

"Wonder who you pissed off." He leans in further, close enough to feel the faint hum of energy still coursing through Falcon’s circuits. His grin falls as he remembers Igor's and Margaret's words. If this is- truly an intruder; he can already imagine people rallying for Falcon. Annoyingly enough.

"Let's see how far you go, tragic hero."

He presses his finger harshly against the cheek- still chuckling to himself. He's quite satisfied right now but Falcon is an old resident. Perhaps...

He takes a quick look at the network post.

=====

As expected.

He's lived a hundred lives. He can predict exactly where this goes.

Akira retracts his whip properly and tucks it under his hoodie before pulling the hood over his head. "So long, Gorobo. Try not to rust too quickly."

He shoves his hands in his pocket and goes around the sofa- fixing his hood and sunglasses to ensure his anonymity.

[pancakeboy]

... but as he heads for the door, Magpie appears through the Inaba door, with a briskness born of panic. He turns his head to give Akira a hard look, but spares him no more than a thought before he heads for the pile of spare parts and tangled hair and clothes, discarded.

He drops into place beside Raven, resting a hand on his shoulder. As he stares, an organic circuit lifts itself into position in Falcon's arm. "It's all right," Magpie murmurs to Raven, burning inside, ready to kill. "We'll see that he pays for this."

The pile of assembling parts on the floor still looks nothing like a person.

[fogboundcrow]

Raven leans into the touch, hanging his head and sniffling. He's trying so hard not to sob, but it's so much. So much.

[pancakeboy]

The hand on Raven's shoulder slides around him, drawing him close. He doesn't even begin to suggest the kid should leave. More little pieces rain upwards, adding themselves into what would be the greatest jigsaw ever made, if it wasn't....

Well. If it wasn't his friend. His mind has turned to the other Amada-kun, to Raven's friend; he rocks Raven gently, in his embrace.

[fogboundcrow]

"It's not fair." He knows it could be worse, but Falcon doesn't deserve this. Either way, he clings to Magpie. It's all he can do.

[willowandoak]

Aaand that's when Ren walks in.

He stops just inside the doorway, taking in the entire scene at a glance before turning his gaze back to Falcon. His mouth opens. His mouth closes.

"Shit," he says at last, quietly. His skin has broken out in goosebumps.

[rosemaudite]

Of course Rose is going to be there when Falcon's revived. It's the sort of thing one does for friends, and even here she has precious few of those. Besides, she won't have him thinking a failure to execute his mission means he's not welcome.

She just pulls up a seat on the floor and waits, occasionally checking her phone.

[seekerofjustice]

Dove doesn't expect anything unusual when he steps out of the Tokyo door. And truth be told, he can't entirely perceive what is in front of him at first. He stares at the scene with a blank, slightly confused expression as he steps closer to Falcon as he's regenerating, looking down at him with a blank expression as reality starts dawning on him.

"...Falcon-san...?"

Falcon is... he's... no longer moving. More than just unconscious. No, this is death. Someone killed Falcon.

Dove's eyes simply go blank as it settles in. Someone doing this here, to one of his friends. He feels... weird. So many things pass him by, a fleeting urge to shed a tear, a stifled need to scream, and the thing that comes out above them all...

"..."

He begins lifting his head, and something as quiet as a whisper escapes his lips. Cold, bitter.

"I'll put a stop to this, Falcon-san. You have my word."

He grits his teeth.

He won't accept this. He refuses.

[herewardbound]

"We."

He placed a hand on Dove's shoulder. "Don't know yet what we're going to do, exactly- but as soon as he's back, we're going to be exploring options."

[herewardbound]

A ring of violet energy appeared, expanding in midair-

And Phoenix stepped through, eyes luminous red in the dim light of the Velvet Room- followed, shortly thereafter, by Renée and Futaba.

His eyes fixated on the slowly-reassambling pile of... machine parts. And sighed.

"God dammit."

[lilcomputer]

She looked over Falcon, her hands shook, as she tried to get a grip on what was happening. She breathed a sigh, she bit her lip, before turning to Phoenix and holding onto him. She didn't know what to do, she had a lot of emotions, a lot of feelings.

"What happened?" her voice wasn't as shaky as she expected, maybe that was the anger talking.

[butterflyaffect]

"Someone got in who wasn't supposed to," Renée replied, quietly. "I'm not sure how, but it looks like- Falcon went to confront him. He will be alright, Futaba. He should be protected- but we should be here to support him. The experience won't have been pleasant, I'd imagine."

[lilcomputer]

Falcon went to confront him, why'd he do that? There was no reason. Okay she was angry. She'd figure it out how to handle things later. "No, I don't think Death is fun for anyone," she gestured to Pheonix.

"I'm supposed to help you guys. I'm your healer!"

[gorobo]

Shortly after Drake closes the Tokyo door behind him, there's a twitch from Falcon's body.

The blue glow around him has faded, and everything is finally back in place. His eyes are still closed, and he's not quite awake yet, it seems-

But that quickly changes, his eyes snapping open. They're glowing brightly with- fear. His mind races with panic, and he stumbles backwards with a shout, unsteady on his feet as he hits the wall, and slides down from it. His fans audibly spin, and he's reaching for Robin and Loki, and- and-

He's... in the Velvet Room?

People are... staring at him? People he knows. People he likes. Various shades of sadness and anger and anxiety written on their faces.

Confusion settles over him- he was- wasn't he in-? He was fighting- and that attack- his sensors are still reeling, the remnants of warning messages linger in his mind. He doesn't understand, his systems slow to catch up.

"Wh-huh? Wha-?" he sputters, frazzled, dread lingering. "Why am- where is-?"

Realization slams into him as he calls up his last known memory file.

"I- I lost? No- I-" His eyes are wild, disbelieving. "Was destroyed."

After confronting Ken

[seekerofjustice]

As Dove returns to the Velvet Room to check on Falcon, he steps in just in time to see Falcon jolt awake. Dove's eyes widen slightly, holding his shoulder as he closes the Tokyo door once more, slowly stepping into the Velvet Room with a rather pensive look.

"Falcon-san... I'm glad you're awake. Are you feeling well? Is there anything I can do for you?"

He steps closer, still nursing his broken arm...

[fogboundcrow]

The moment Falcon wakes up, Raven barrels past Dove and right over to him to cling. "You're alive!" Yes, those are tears. Yes, you are being hugged. Sorry, Dove. This child has been waiting the entire time.

[pancakeboy]

And, while Magpie remains seated, some of the tension fades from his face as he meets Falcon's eye. But only some. Funny, how sentimental he's become in a year.

"Welcome back," is all he says. Falcon has quite enough to field.

[rosemaudite]

Haru doesn't rush over either, but she does make sure to make eye contact with Falcon. She's around if he needs support, and of course she stuck around while he was regenerating.

(She's not beating the accusations of kindness any time soon, at this rate.)