Twisted Slough Into terror, into valor

That.. Didn't make sense at all. What happened to convince Gannet that his own family wouldn't want him? Screech wanted to be offended by the accusation but he didn't have enough information (which didn't usually stop him), and he felt a weird kinship with the abandoned boy. Screech felt abandoned too — hell, even with the rest of his family around him nowadays, he still felt like they didn't want him at all. Like they'd developed some kind of adaptation for his absence that meant reintegration was impossible, or something. Maybe not in those... grand terms.

That doesn't— he started, but then stopped and stared at the mire around him, sighing and trying to collect his thoughts so he didn't fly off the handle. The thought of Hydra wanting anyone made his skin crawl. I don't know what happened with you and the rest of the family, but you're a Redhawk, not a — whatever the fuck those girls are, those mountain people are. You can't just — just let them take you away from us. It doesn't matter what people say, you're a Redhawk and always will be, and you can't let them turn you in to something less than that. He was partly talking out of his ass but he had conviction, so that helped.

If only he could take his own damn advice.

If you get sick of their bullshit, you can always leave them. Towhee and the rest — and me — we're all west of here at a plateau. You can come home whenever you want. Although it seemed like Gannet had made up his mind, and he was set on keeping his word, which was much more than Screech could ever do.