Chapter 2 Saint Status
"Are you kidding? Hawks! A straight jacket?!"
My emotions were all over the place. My square breathing was for naught because I started hyperventilating. I was on the verge of both laughing and crying at the same time. Maybe I'd look nuts and they'd take me back to Bakugou? No, they have Twice, so I'm sure they've seen worse.
"Hey, hey, hey," Hawks hushed me, rushing towards me as I collapsed onto my knees, slowing my fall by grabbing my shoulders, still encased in that damn straight jacket. "I thought it would be a sign that you were safe! That you were on your way to me."
"That was years ago, dumbass." I was crying, but more in relief now. I felt infinitely safer than I had the minute before. Seeing Hawks was a good sign. I could trust Hawks. I was okay. I was going to be okay. My breathing increased in cadence as I struggled against my restraint.
"Oh, Harpy, baby, I've got you," Hawks cooed as he crouched down behind me to undo the buckles of the straight jacket. More tears of relief, if you could believe it.
I sighed as my arms were released and collapsed forward onto my forearms, absolutely exhausted mentally and emotionally. But physically? I was ready to go. It was unfortunate that the villains are good at what they do. Shigaraki was behind Hawks, handing thick, metal hinged tubes over to him as soon as the straight jacket sleeves slid down my arms. My relief was short-lived as Hawks snapped the cuffs onto each arm with a solid click, giving me an empathetic look as he restricted me once again.
It was not nearly as bad as the straight jacket, so that was a relief. It wasn't even really restrictive, if I'm being honest. The cool metal covered almost the entirety of my forearms and they fit snugly… like they were specifically made for me. How the hell did they get measurements? I'd bet a month's salary on Twice, that sneaky, talented bastard. The shackles weren't connected together, and upon further inspection, it looked like there was not a way to hook them together to restrain me. Was that a kindness or an oversight?
"If you were going to use quirk-canceling technology on me, why wouldn't you skip the straight jacket?" I asked, incredulously.
"You should know, Harpy-girl. You're the support tech genius." Despite my anger at the audacity, I still blushed, flattered by the compliment. Damn it; this was not a good time to give in to flattery. This time I was sure it was a kindness when no one mentioned my flushed face.
"Oh. Yeah… It has to do with the new technology that cancels out quirk-canceling technology, huh? We're heading in a dangerous direction, but I'm in for the ride," I rambled as I pondered the newest jammer-like technology that messes up the signals used in quirk-canceling technology. There were already two villains whose plans were foiled by heroes taking advantage of the newest installment of essential hero support items.
The cute blonde bombshell, known as Toga Himiko, brutally brought me out of my thoughts of creating a canceling technology to disrupt the canceling technology of the quirk-canceling technology by trying to cut my arm. I whirled around so fast and stared at her with wide, surprised eyes, and was stunned to see that she matched my expression.
"It's not working!" Toga exclaimed, jumping back out of my reach. "She's not bleeding!"
"What?!" Shigaraki hissed, taking a step closer toward me, causing me to fall sideways to try to keep my distance. I ended up sprawled on the floor, with Shigaraki quickly gaining on me. In a panic, going off of pure instinct, I scrambled back until my back touched the wall and I couldn't go any further. It would've been a good time to have a permeation quirk.
Shigaraki reached toward me with one hand, scratching his neck with the other, obviously irritated and tense. Whoever said it's either fight or flight is a damn liar, because I froze. I couldn't move to defend myself, not that I could anyway, with the quirk-cancelling cuffs locked firmly around my forearms, but I was still ashamed of myself for not acting, for not at least trying. Bakugou would've tried. He would've died trying.
My breath hitched in my throat as Shigaraki's hand closed around my throat. I squeezed my eyes shut, not wanting his patronizing red eyes to be the last thing I saw before I died. After a few seconds of questioning if I was dead yet, I realized that while his hand was around my throat, he wasn't choking me. He was just firmly holding me there. It was kinda hot.
"Those bastards," Shigaraki huffed under his breath, dropping his hand from my neck after a second or two more of just watching me. He stood from his crouch and turned to walk away from me, and that's when Hawks landed on the floor in front of me.
In my haze of absolute fear, Hawks had been trying to get to me, but was held back until Shigaraki had finished whatever bizarre ritual he had done to me. Hawks reached out to me and pulled me into his chest. He smelled great, like lavender and leather; it was very grounding being surrounded by his warmth and scent. It was already getting easier to come down off of these emotional spikes, and that frightened me almost as much as Shigaraki.
"They're working," Hawks insisted, as he pet my hair, another calming gesture that I was extremely grateful for. "No one ripped you off, Shigaraki. She's just a special case."
"What do you mean?" Shigaraki asked intrigued, turning around on the spot and pausing his scratching.
"Her quirk- it's not that it's not being cancelled, it is! Only part of it is still working," Hawks rushed to explain. "She can't transfer energy to or from anyone with these on," he continued, moving his hand down to caress one of the metal cuffs that graced my arms, but continuing to pet my hair with the other hand. "But her energy is still there and is used as normal. She can't hurt anyone. She can't heal anyone. But her self-defense mechanism is not altered."
"Why didn't you tell me this before, bird?" Shigaraki growled at Hawks, then turned his glare onto me, which I am ashamed to admit that I shrunk away from.
"Would it have changed anything? We needed to get her, now!" Hawks defended.
"It would have changed everything! We could have gotten shackles that fully render her helpless. How are we going to get her to cooperate?" Shigaraki asked, not as a rhetorical question, either. He waited for an answer.
"You can't-"
"She's not-"
Hawks and I both stopped after we tried answering at the same time. We both looked at Shigaraki who looked at me to go first, and my breath caught in my throat because was I even allowed to speak without being asked a direct question?
"You can't get technology that hasn't been invented, yet," I said softly while trying to maintain eye contact, trying my hardest not to show any sign of disrespect. I couldn't do it anymore and looked back down at the floor in front of Shigaraki, instead.
"She's not going to be difficult," Hawks added matter-of-factly.
"Oh, yeah? How do you figure?" said a deep voice from our left. I didn't look away from the spot on the floor in front of Shigaraki, but it must've been Dabi speaking.
"She's not like you. She's not like me. She's not like any of us. She always does the right thing," Hawks spoke confidently. That's the way he sees me? Morally sound?
"Underground hero, Succubus, is it?" Shigaraki addressed me, making me glance up to meet that scarlet stare again before quickly finding that spot on the floor again. He must've taken that as answer enough because he continued, "if… Dabi had gotten fatally wounded and I brought him back here half dead, would you heal him?" He added a "hm?" when I didn't answer right away.
"Yes," I answered, hoping that short and direct answers were the best way to go.
"Dabi has killed before, haven't you, Dabi?" Shigaraki taunted, taking a step closer to me as Dabi hummed in agreement. "Multiple people. Heroes just trying to do their job and go home to their family later that night. They never made it. Isn't that sad?" That was a rhetorical question. I was sure of it. So I kept my mouth shut, ears open, and eyes on the floor, breath hitching in my throat as Shigaraki took another step forward, but not daring to flinch back, not that I had much space to maneuver, anyway, seeing as I was still pressed against the wall and Hawks was still seated in front of me, still comforting me with small touches on my shoulders and back and still petting my hair occasionally. He didn't even look as Shigaraki stepped closer, just continued focusing on providing as much comfort to me as he could.
"Would you still save me if that means I would go on to kill countless others?" Dabi asked from my right. I jumped, as he was much closer than he was before, and my eyes tore away from the spot on the floor to meet Dabi's bright blue orbs.
"Yes," I answered quietly, but without hesitation, because it was true.
"Why?" Shigaraki pried, crouching down behind Hawks to be eye level with me, making my heart jump. There was no way to look at the floor now when his eyes were right there.
"I heal everyone who needs it. It's not my job to discriminate, and if that was my job, I'd quit," I slapped a hand over my mouth to stop the word vomit. Did I not just decide to keep my answers short and direct? Dabi laughed, so I took that as a good sign that I was not about to die at the hands of these villains, at least not yet.
Shigaraki tilted his head slightly in thought and casually commented, "I see. That's how you've managed to work next to Bakugou, that brat, since he started that damn agency." Shigaraki mercifully looked away from my eyes and scratched at his neck before standing up again, but not moving away. Not yet. "She thinks herself to be a follower, but by doing what's right all the time, she's more of a leader than she realizes."
Startled, I looked up and met Shigaraki's eyes once again. Was he making dumb statements, or was he observant enough to realize something so quickly about me that I have not realized for myself, yet? I wasn't ready to know. I didn't want to think about it anymore.
"I see. She just fits in well with the heroes because they do the right thing… sometimes. What would your boss say if he heard your answer, huh? He wouldn't find that very heroic, I bet," Toga taunted from across the room, sprawled out on one of the couches that littered the big room.
I could feel my face heating up with shame. I almost rather they physically hurt me by that point, and they weren't even being that cruel. I'm sure they could have come up with worse. This is probably their best attempt at being merciful with a pathetic, captive sidekick like me. I should be thankful, right? Yes. I should be thankful.
"Thank you," I blurted out before I could chicken out. The room went silent and I felt everyone's eyes turn to me. Hawks chuckled and lowered his head into the crook of my shoulder, shaking his head with amusement. At least, I hoped it was amusement.
"For what?" Shigaraki asked, right to the point.
"For treating me well, even though we aren't on the same side," I breathed out.
I swear that their jaws dropped. All of their jaws dropped. Well, except Hawks's. He just nuzzled further into the crook of my neck, and I could feel his small smile against my collar bone.
A/N: I feel like Toga and/or Twice should be suspicious of the explanation of the quirk-cancelling technology not working. It's obvious that Hawks and Succubus are old friends, right? Well, what if Hawks is double-crossing them by using Succubus to gain trust before killing off everyone? Hey! It could happen! They didn't really prove that she couldn't transfer energy, they just know that it's confirmed that she still has her armor-type energy circulating. Any thoughts about this?