Hawks and his interns were calmly assessing the situation from under their desk.

"We need to act quickly so as to preserve civilian safety. The gunshot came from East of myself, and is likely situated on a two-storey building given the angle of attack. It isn't downward enough to be a high rise. The villain likely knows the urban environment well enough to slip away into an alleyway via a fire escape or perhaps a jump into a non-lethal dumpster" Hawks rattled this all off almost robotically.

"Sir. My telekinesis is useful here. I think I'm best suited to defense for all of us." Erude responded.

"I agree. Tenshi and myself can handle offense or evasion just fine. But we need your telekinetic abilities for the bullets. Also, I couldn't sense the villain. He likely has some form of Presence Concealment as a Quirk, or a suppression of sound within an area. We need to keep this in mind and stick to shadowed covered areas, not try and blitz him."

"Sir. I have an idea. But you have to trust me…" Erude spoke gravely and the other two listened. They were both shocked and Runa insisted against it, but Hawks looked at Erude sternly. "OK."

"OK!? He is your student, surely this is far too reckless" Runa exasperatedly spoke but there was no time for further debate. "Erude Rikaga, your reaction time is quite insane even to me, you detected a bullet as it entered your frame of vision, that's why I'm authorising this. I know you will succeed. I know it."

Erude Rikaga slowly walked out of the café cover, slowly approaching the main road. Runa had stayed with the civilians, and Hawks had slipped out through a restroom window on the opposite side of the shop. Erude slowly and quietly walked forward, now on the main road. He was focussing, a sweat bead rolling down his forehead. A second later, his shoulder was shot clean through. Runa quickly barricaded the shop entrance but looked terrified at what had transpired, as the bullet created a small dent in a wooden plank.

"SHIT!" Erude screamed in pain, sweating profusely and trying to not lose any more focus. Taking a bullet was, it turned out extremely painful. His shoulder was bleeding slowly, but he did not have time to tend to it right now. Another bullet shot rang out, but this time, he stopped it as it almost drilled into the skin of his right shin. He gritted his teeth and the bullet slowed in rotation, eventually falling to the pavement as it lost momentum and torque.

I want to be…noticed for my effort.

There was no dramatic tale, no tragic inciting incident for Erude Rikaga. He would not receive something so significant. Erude Rikaga was just, as he was told from childhood, just a little bit slow compared to other people. He was told his mind worked differently. He only ever stood out for odd reasons others couldn't even put a finger on, but they had avoided him anyway. Such abstract reasoning for his isolation plagued him.

"Why am I so weird? I'm not weird! I'm not!"

Erude hated the events which occurred throughout his life, seemingly for no reason. He found himself struggling with even the simplest of academia, he was unempathetic towards others plights for reasons he didn't even understand himself; he couldn't sleep at night due to constant questioning of his own self-worth. All he could ever think about is why he was so inferior to those around him. Even his parents had been worried for him, but he always pushed them away. He pushed the therapist they had called away almost immediately. During his final year of middle school though, Erude felt that the stars aligned such that he saw clarity. His clarity was to be learning, working and refining 24/7. Rest, enjoyment, happiness? These were no longer concepts he cared about, he decided the only way he would be worthy and loved was to torturously apply himself and learn. He applied for a hero school because they were respected by society. That was his reason, solely that. He managed to barely eke his way into U.A, but he had shot down and cut off all relations with his family. He in fact had no idea what he would do after U.A. Maybe try and find an agency which subsided accomodation…if he even made it through U.A.

But more recently, Erude had begun to develop ambition. Ambition further than and more complex than being "worthy". He had seen the classmates around him, their motivations, their frustrations, and their drives. And he was beginning to grasp the value of desire in decision making, as well as the cyclical returns from passion for what you are striving towards.

"I, won't give in." Erude's right arm was now bloody and his vision was becoming blurry. He heard three gunshots in quick succession. Is this it for me? A boring death for an uninspired person. As he thought this though, he yelled out in pain, and a small, barely visible, shimmering forcefield extended out from him about 1 metre in radius. The three bullets all stopped rotation instantly and fell. Erude gasped; this was new for him. He smiled weakly. Progress… And passed out.

Erude woke up in a hospital room. The moon was out and the sky purple. Hawks and Runa were both at his side, and looked relieved as he opened his eyes. "Erude-kun! You…. you're insane." Runa almost collapsed, her voice trembling and Hawks had to help her back into her chair.

Hawks looked at Erude with admiration. "Thank you, kid. You did so good. How did you find my Fierce Wings to control?"

Hawks had lent some of his fierce wings to Erude telekinetically prior to leaving. As Erude was controlling the bullets, he was also simultaneously controlling Fierce Wings hidden from sight, to zip towards the target location via a different route. Hawks had been following these as markers,

"It was difficult. I can't believe…you do that unconsciously…" Erude spoke weakly.

"What you did was far more impressive. Parallel processing of two different telekinetic, finely calibrated processes. You're like me kid…no I mean Erude Rikaga. You're a natural born genius."

Before he knew it, tears were streaming down Erude's face…" No, I'm…worthless…" and he turned to the left to hide his face, sobbing into his bed.

Hawks frowned. "No. You're not." Runa got up and grabbed Erude's hand and spoke sharply "Look Erude-kun. I have no idea what has caused this view of yourself. But myself, and everyone in the class will prove you wrong on it. You mark my words."

Erude looked at her, eyes glazed over, and smiled. "Yeah…. maybe you're onto something". And then drifted off to sleep. Runa turned to Hawks worried.

"We should let him rest."

"Yes, quite. It's a shame the villain got away after everything he sacrificed though".

"That's…my bad. I didn't consider the possibility of automatically set-up rifles with timers. I should've prepared for that outcome."

Runa just solemnly looked back at Erude. Hawks glanced over at her furtively. He hadn't exactly been forthcoming with her.

High rise construction site, two hours earlier

"…Come out, Jasper Kench."

A small, eerie chuckle came from the construction site, and Jasper Kench loped out of the shadows.

"Hawks…Well done on keeping your students safe. Full marks."

Hawks eyes narrowed and he pulled out a feather katana. He levelled it with Jasper's neck and stated "Is this how Shigaraki treats his allies? Not exactly great employee perks I must say."

"Hey come on kid. We gotta be consistent. After I went after Endeavour, I needed to go after you. Then eventually Best Jeanist, Edgeshot. Etcetera, etcetera. Why would you be left out? You're the No.2 Hero, a beacon of security and altruism. And anyway, I knew you wouldn't die from something like this. It's all good." The man grinned mockingly. Hawks' face remained a mask.

"I see. When can I meet your Boss? I keep repeating myself here."

"You can't yet. Be patient. We're just doing our due diligence on you and making sure everything else is proceeding smoothly."

"…Fine. I'll take my leave now."

"Don't hit your head on the way ou-"Jasper Kench's statement was cut short as he suddenly fell to the ground. He felt intense, sharp pain and saw that his heels had been cut severely. His ankles started to bleed and he tried to scream, but Hawks jammed some cloth in his mouth to muffle the sound.

"No need to take a breath right, Blindspot? I will only tell you this once. And you tell Shigaraki this. If you involve civilians…or students…. I will retaliate with brutality. Do we have an understanding?"

Jasper Kench nodded, his eyes wide and shaking violently like wounded prey. Hawks kicked him down the ground. "Call an ambulance."

Hawks then flew away into the night sky.