The Long Flight

Jason Hoot flies gracelessly through the sky, bruises adorn every non-covered part of his body, his clothes are raggedy. Dried blood has them sticking uncomfortably to his body. His large hawk-like wings jutting out of his back are ruffled and bent oddly as well. Through sheer force of will, Jason has been staying airborne to get away from his pursuers.

His willpower starts to fail him, though, and his flight path trends downward slightly. With luck, Jason is near the location he was looking for: a remote farm in the most rural part of this area. Thirty minutes away from any paved roads, this area stays quiet. When he is nearing his goal, Jason starts losing focus, and his slight downward trend shifts massively into an almost perpendicular path with the earth below.

The winged man makes steady progress to reaching terminal velocity and crashing to the ground. Still, he barely manages to stunt his current momentum and fly himself into a nearby fruit tree with one last effort. Tired and beat-up, Jason's body crashes through the inner workings of the tree, falling from limb to limb and rustling the fruit off the branches. Rather quickly, the flying man takes a similar path as the fruit he's knocked down and lands poorly on the ground with a massive thud. His eyes closed for moments that seem to stretch on for eternity. Jason opens his eyes and looks up at the fruit tree above him, red-orange from the sunset light piercing through the leaves above him.

"Pears...How nice."

Jason Hoot entirely collapses from exhaustion.

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By the time Jason is somewhat cognizant again, he is being carried by someone. His body is slumped over the carrier's massive shoulder, with Jason's stomach resting uncomfortably on the man's shoulder. He attempts to look up and sees a familiar face.

"G-Green?" he murmurs out.

"They told me you'd be spending some time here at my ranch, Jason. I thought you'd be landing a little more elegantly instead of crashing into my pear tree."

The man carrying Jason was referred to as Green. He is a primary supplier of food for various mutual aid networks in the region. He has a supernatural affinity for taking care of plants and livestock. He claims to be able to photosynthesize like a plant. This makes it easier for him to work endlessly without taking breaks from dawn till dusk. For those reasons and more, he garnered the codename The Green Giant. He simply prefers being called Green, though.

"You don't really get to choose a lot of the time in my line of business."

Green has also made himself an associate and confidant of a group of super-powered individuals who stand up for the people no matter what it takes. This group often finds itself on the receiving end of endless punishment. Mostly from various governments and corporations of the world that profit and live off human suffering. Jason Hoot is a very active member of that group and, thanks to his unique physiology, can discreetly pass along information to whoever and wherever it is needed. His role is well known by their enemies, so he is constantly on the run. This means he is very well acquainted with people like Green all across the country and the world.

"I hear ya. Look, Normally I'd stay and tend to you more, but I've got to go solve some problems at a few other farms in the area. Work's gonna take me away for a few days."

Green opens the door of a small shack and quickly sets Jason down on a cot. Jason curls up immediately, his wings blanketing around his body.

"There's not much here that's pressing that needs did. Just make sure all of the animals stay safe and are fed while you lay low. Can you do that?"

"Don't know. I'm pretty beat up. You might have to cancel and nurse me back to health like an orphaned calf."

"Ya see, now I know you're fine. The last time you came here beat half to death, you didn't have the strength to crack jokes." Green reaches into his coat pocket and places two pill bottles on the end table next to the bed. The small number of pills rattle loudly in the bottle.

"Take one painkiller a day when you wake up and an antibiotic in the morning and at night. They'll keep you on your feet long enough to do the work you need to do."

Jason grumbled in response. Having lost what little energy he had. Green snorts before making his way out of the shack. The distant sound of his truck starting up and leaving could be heard from Jason's shelter. The young man drifts off into a night of tired, dreamless sleep.

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Green's roosters caw right at the first light, which instantly wakes Jason up. The young man shoots up, and wings stretch out, ready to make a break for the nearest exit. In the next possible instant, his entire body screams at him for even daring to move in his state. Jason curls up in pain as he tries to reach over for the pill bottle. After many unsuccessful attempts and a lot of swearing and pain later, he's able to get the pill bottles between his fingers. Jason brings the pill bottles to him and cracks them open. He divvies out a single pill from each and quickly swallows them.

Thirty minutes later and Jason's pain starts subsiding fast. Fifteen more, and he doesn't feel any pain at all. The young man wiggles his arms, legs, and wings around to see if there's any lingering pain, but sure enough, Green's medicine did the trick. Jason stands up from the cot and makes his way to a nearby dresser set up in this little shack. Being a frequent flyer, Jason has left some extra clothes in most of these safe houses. Jason peels off his current wardrobe and tosses it in a nearby laundry basket. He pulls out a blue flannel shirt, specially tailored for wing holes on the back and some jeans, and puts them on. Jason steps over to the sink next to the dresser. He washes the dried blood off his face and ties his shoulder-length dark hair into a messy bun.

"Let's feed the cows, I guess."

Jason goes about the routine of feeding the animals and checking to make sure they're safe. An issue with being so far out in the countryside is that you're living in the same home as a lot of other animals and they occasionally liked to eat your animals. Jason has helped Green fend some off once or twice when passing through. Green's very protective of his animals for one reason or another.

Jason continues through the daily chores assigned to him. Taking breaks every now and then because he wasn't a six-foot-six, photosynthesizing mountain man. Around the time the sun started setting, Jason's body started crying out in pain again. The winged man took that as his sign to stop for the day and get settled in. Jason returned to his shack and opened up the freezer that sat at the foot of the cot. Green had pre-cooked some food for Jason's arrival.

"You always take care, Green."

Jason ate the food, took another antibiotic and went immediately to bed for another dreamless sleep. ___________________________________________________

The following day, the roosters cawed, and Jason was startled awake again. The young man took his medicine, washed his face, and ate more food. While eating, he spotted a portrait he hadn't seen before. It was one of Green arm and arm with another man with a small squad of kids in front of them. Jason never heard green talk about any partners or kids before. Deciding to ask him about it later, Jason got ready to do his daily chores.

This day of chores went by a lot quicker, and Jason could finish early in the afternoon. He decided he earned himself a midday nap underneath Green's Pear tree. Jason leaned up against the tree in question and shut his eyes for a well-earned rest.

Some time passes, and a suspicious digging noise brings Jason back to full alert. The winged man follows the noise. Near one of the outskirt fences, Jason catches a coyote digging underneath barbed wire near the bottom of the fence, something to help keep predators out. Jason grabs a nearby pitchfork leaned against the barrier, and starts marching to scare the Coyote off. Still, the Coyote doesn't acknowledge Jason and keeps digging until it can mostly get under the barbed wire. It then scurries as fast as possible past the man and over the farm ground into another section of the countryside wilderness.

Jason is by no means a professional regarding ranching, farming, or coyote behavior. Still, he knows Coyotes are nocturnal by nature and one appearing in the middle of the day is strange at best. Jason looks around dubiously.

"Well, it was quiet all day yesterday, so It's probably safe enough to just get a quick peek from the skies."

Jason beats his wings several times before offering a little additional momentum to launch into the air. He glides along an air current gracefully to get higher in the sky. Once above the treeline, the birdman starts surveying the area. Being well-versed in this tactic, he can spot a column of gray smoke. Jason sets his course and soars towards the smoke. When he arrives on location, it is, fortunately, a small fire but lit right inside of a coyote den that's nestled near a large tree. Probably set by a hunter of some kind.

"That explains the midday coyote. Let's go ahead and put this out."

Jason kicks some dirt onto the fire and slowly but surely snuffs it out. Once he can't smell the smoke anymore, he takes that as a cue for a well-done job and jets himself up into the sky again. He scouts the area once more and, when he finds nothing, takes his leave to get back home. Stretching his wings and flying brought the pain on a lot sooner than yesterday. So despite the sun still being up, Jason ate his food and went to bed for the day.

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This time it was a smell and not a sound that woke Jason up. The familiar smell of smoke tingled his senses and had him practically rolling out of bed to figure out where it was coming from. Not in as much pain as he usually was, but still enough to stagger him, the young man set out to find the source of the smoky smell. In no time flat, it became apparent.

The pear tree Jason had crashed into a few days ago and napped under just yesterday was in cinders. A dead, black corpse of its former self with ash surrounding it in several piles. Amongst the piles of ash, there was an envelope addressed to a Little Birdie.

Jason quickly opened the envelope.

Dear Little Birdie,

That was very noble of you to save the coyote den earlier. Unfortunately for you, it was a trap designed by the one and only Beezelbob! I tracked you down to your quaint little ranch. Or should I say your friend's quaint little ranch? Now, unless you want the rest of the farm to end up like this tree, you'll surrender yourself to me by morning. Otherwise, the fires of hell I have been gifted will cleanse every last inch of that land. Meet me at the Coyote den you saved.

Jason crumpled the letter. He thought of the portrait he saw yesterday.

"He must have lost them. Maybe even from helping us."

Jason flew toward the sky and went to meet Beezelbob at the den.

"Well, he won't be losing anything else on my watch."