Winds of Destiny: Rising

Chapter Six: Cat and Mouse

It had been almost three weeks since Misaki had accepted her promotion and stepped into her new role as the Hero Public Safety Commission's Commissioner of Analytics. The President had made a pointed suggestion that she apply for a patent for her tracking program, which she'd done somewhat reluctantly under the name ROAM: Realtime Observational Analysis Matrix. Using ROAM, she'd begun to develop a series of geographic profiles that pertained to the people's views of heroes and the work they did. The goal in mind was to use the data ROAM collected to evaluate the potential hotbeds of communal discontent and develop outreach programs to try and ease some of the tension.

She'd also been visiting with Eri at UA a couple of times a week. At the moment, she was just taking some time to get to know the little girl before she attempted to start training her on the use of her quirk. She wanted to wait until Eri was comfortable with her. It felt like pushing her into something she wasn't ready for would only lead her to develop more bad feelings about her quirk. Eri had quite a few teachers and students around her that were doing their utmost to help her feel safe and happy in the meantime.

At the moment, Misaki had diverted her attention from her geographic profiling algorithm into analyzing an interesting new case. A severed finger had been left in front of the gate at the Shie Hassaikai's main compound the previous day, wrapped in a tan scarf. No note, or any other indication of who the finger belonged to, or why it had been left there, was recovered from the scene. The general consensus from the police investigators was that it had belonged to someone within the Shie Hassaikai's ranks and had been left as a message by a rival gang.

Several things about that assessment hadn't added up for her. Ever since Overhaul's arrest, the Shie Hassaikai had been practically dormant as a yakuza organization. Their previous boss was still in a coma and there was no clear successor to continue the business. They'd effectively shut the doors on their criminal enterprises. Other than the apparent intended recipient, the thing that had stood out for her the most was the location.

Looking at it objectively, there was one particularly significant event that had occurred within those premises in addition to the apprehension of Overhaul: the recruitment of Toga and Twice from the League of Villains into the ranks of the Shie Hassaikai, and their inevitable betrayal that had assisted the heroes in taking down the young boss. If the message hadn't been for the group, it could very well have been for the League.

On that hunch, Misaki had asked the lead detective on the case if they'd found any matches in the known criminal database when they'd run a fingerprint analysis. He'd grudgingly informed her that they had come up with none. No matches in any database, criminal or otherwise, to identify the victim. She had expected as much. If the finger belonged to who she suspected it belonged to, he would have been the type to be extra careful to make sure he never wound up in any database. But it was the people who were so careful to erase their presence that were actually some of the easiest to track down. Since she'd been doing that herself for almost eight years while she'd been growing up, she was very familiar with what to look for.

A flashing alert message at the bottom right corner of her computer screen caught her attention and drew her out of her musings. She'd written a protocol into ROAM to alert her if there were any more mentions of severed fingers being found at several key locations that were associated with past League activities. Apparently, she'd just gotten a hit. Clicking on the alert box, Misaki quickly read through the message that popped up from the police band.

Her eyes narrowed as she said under her breath, "I knew it."

Rising quickly from her desk, she grabbed her tablet from the stand next to her monitor and walked down the hall to the President's office. Without even knocking, she strode inside and announced, "We have another finger."

"Where?" The President asked, looking up sharply.

"Outside a terminal in Hosu City, next to a pair of broken glasses," Misaki explained, tightening her lips into a thin line as she followed up the statement, "At this point, I'm confident in my assessment that both of these incidents are related to the League of Villains."

"Leaving a finger outside of a yakuza organization is not entirely uncommon," the President reasoned calmly.

Misaki nodded, walking forward to sit in the chair in front of the desk. "True, but now that there's a second finger at another location that is closely tied to past League activities, I'm certain the two incidents are related. Since Overhaul's arrest, the organization has been all but closed, which led me to suspect that the message was not for the Shie Hassaikai, but for the League."

"Do we know anything yet about who these fingers might belong to?" The President asked obligingly.

Misaki pressed an icon on her tablet to turn on the television. As she pulled up a picture on the screen, she began to explain, "The police weren't able to get anything from the fingerprint analysis, but the diameter of the fingers, and the items of clothing that were left with them, match someone I've been keeping my eye on."

"Who is he?" The President asked, staring up at the screen with a concerned expression.

"His name is Giran. He's one of the potential League associates I've been tracking with ROAM. I suspected that he, or one of his associates had been providing the League with items and possible recruits. No one's ever been able to tie anything back to him directly, though. He works mostly through third parties as an information broker, rarely getting his own hands dirty," Misaki grudgingly explained.

The President stared back at her in concern. "Sending a message to the League is one thing, but this is more like an outright threat."

Like they were yelling at the top of their lungs, "We know who you are and what you've done. We've cut off your supplier, and we're coming for you next!".

"The last thing we need is some new villain group using the League's absence to try and make a name for themselves," she bit out caustically.

Misaki nodded and dropped her gaze, a look of deep concentration etched across her face. If someone was trying to draw the League of Villains out of hiding, this was a good way to do it. Kidnapping and dismembering one of their long-standing supporters would likely be seen as a personal attack, and the League had a history of exacting retribution against those who had wronged them in the past, just like they had with Overhaul. Why they were trying to draw out the League was the bigger question; one that she had yet to come up with a good answer for.

The President sighed, leaning back in her chair and staring downward with a focused look in her eyes. "Two fingers have turned up so far. That leaves three more for a full set. Something tells me they're not finished broadcasting their message yet."

"I'll try using the research I've been doing on the League's past activities to figure out where the rest of the fingers might show up." Misaki tapped the icon on her tablet and turned off the television before rising to her feet. "Once I have a list, I'll contact the Police Commissioner's office and ask him to put all potential drop locations under twenty-four-hour surveillance. Let's see if we can't get a look at who's standing on top of this soap box," she said determinedly before turning and walking out of the office.

She'd become a lot more confident in her interactions with the President since becoming an executive. She no longer felt the need to ask for permission or approval for her decisions anymore. They hadn't given her the job so that she could second guess herself about it. Even though she was fairly certain she'd only been given the role out of necessity, that didn't mean she wouldn't strive to perform at it to the best of her ability.

It wasn't just social analytics that she had been tasked with, though that was her primary focus. She'd also been working closely with the League Task Force to investigate any possible leads about the League of Villains' whereabouts. After the attack in Kyushu, they'd completely dropped off the radar. The only movements they'd been able to track were from Dabi, who'd been randomly seen doing recruitment here and there over the last month and a half. Not that much had come from it, other than a pile of burnt corpses. Thankfully, none of them had been Hawks.

She had very little to go on, as she wasn't involved in his assignment at all from the Commission's standpoint. Any relevant information he'd been able to glean from his meetings with Dabi were transmitted to her via the Commissioner of Investigation, Shadou-san. So far, all he'd provided were the locations of the meeting places he'd been to and the numbers of a few payphones that Dabi had used to contact him. Nothing that they'd been able to track back to the rest of the League.

'Maybe we'll catch a lucky break with this finger case and finally get an idea of where they've been or what they've been up to,' Misaki thought as she sat back down at her desk in her office and went to work on identifying the most probable next crime scene.

Misaki walked into the President's office the next morning, carrying her tablet with a disgruntled frown on her face. "Another finger was just dropped onto the expressway where Overhaul's transport was ambushed by the League."

The woman looked up at her as she sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk and asked, "Did the police surveillance catch who made the drop?"

"Someone on a motorcycle, wearing a black riding suit and a helmet. No identifiable plates on the vehicle. The police pursued it, but it got away," Misaki reported dejectedly. "So far, I haven't been able to determine any relevance in the order of appearance or what digit is dropped where at what time of day. It all appears to be random with the glaring exception of each location being closely tied to past League activities."

"But..." She trailed off, looking down at the tablet in her hands with a consternated frown. "That in and of itself is kinda throwing up a red flag for me."

"What do you mean?" The President asked keenly.

"It's too random. Especially for such a personal statement." Misaki began counting off on her fingers. "For each drop, there's a finger, an item of clothing, a predetermined location, a date, and a time. Even if you're drawing these things randomly out of a hat, with that many variables there should be some pattern of convergence in distribution. But I can't find any evidence to support that."

"I assume you have a theory?" The President asked, her interest piqued.

"If these variables were assigned a numeric value, and then fed into a randomizing computer algorithm, it would be possible to create an apparently random distribution sequence. But if that's the case, we're dealing with someone who is highly intelligent and probably very skilled at covering their tracks," Misaki explained carefully.

The President's eyes narrowed. "Does anyone from your list stand out as a possible culprit?"

Misaki shook her head and sighed. "Not even close. I'm starting to seriously consider that the person, or people, behind this, aren't even villains at all. I mean, not in the traditional sense at least."

The President's looked up at her and frowned. "Why do you say that?"

"Their target, for one. The villain community is made up of two main ideologies, crime for personal gain or societal change. After Stain's arrest, the League of Villains went from a group of selfish thugs to a spearhead of hero disestablishmentarianism. They cater to both lines of motivation. There's no good reason why another villain, or group of villains, would try to attack them like this. Especially without making themselves and their intentions known." She shook her head and sighed, "It just doesn't make any sense. Nor does it track for a hero to be dismembering a member of the criminal underworld just to send the League of Villains a message. I think this is something else."

"Vigilantes," the President replied darkly.

Misaki tilted her head with a grimace. "I thought about that too, but there are no known vigilante remnants with the capability of pulling something like this off."

The President fixed her with a serious glare. "Are you really trying to tell me that you think civilians are doing this?"

"I would hesitate to rule out the possibility. Especially after I saw this," Misaki replied carefully, holding out her tablet to the President.

The woman took it from her, looking down at the paused video in curiosity as she asked, "What is this?"

"Footage the police collected from an ATM camera across the street from the terminal in Hosu City where the second finger was found," she explained, reaching over to press play.

The President watched the zoomed in footage of an elderly woman with a walker bend over and place something on the ground before walking slowly out of the frame. As she moved away the finger and the glasses came into clear view.

"This woman has to be over eighty years old..." The President observed aloud in a low, disbelieving tone.

"When the detective interviewed her, she admitted to planting the finger and said that she'd done so of her own volition, though she refused to tell him where she'd gotten it. So, either some villain is recruiting grandmas to do their dirty work now, or we've just started looking for a needle in a nationwide haystack," Misaki said matter-of-factly, reaching out to take her tablet back from the stunned woman.

The President turned in her chair to stare out the window, her face dark with concern. "This is the worst-case scenario. For unlicensed civilians to be taking matters into their own hands..." She raised a hand to cover her mouth and whispered, "Have we really fallen so far without All Might?"

"I wouldn't say it's necessarily to that point yet. This isn't some random free for all. Someone is organizing this. But with no criminal history to compare this information to, we have no way of knowing who they are or what their goal is. Unfortunately, all we can do right now is wait. I have a feeling, once they finish putting together this morbid jigsaw puzzle, that they'll have no more reason not to make themselves and their intentions known." Misaki flipped the cover closed on her tablet as she told the woman, "I'll keep you updated if I hear anything else."

"How have you been coming along with your geographic profiles?" The President suddenly asked as she began to rise from her seat.

Misaki sat back down before responding, "I have most of the major metropolitan areas mapped out, specifically those in the vicinities of the higher-ranking hero agencies. Data for the rural areas is harder to come by. I've dispatched several survey teams to what I'm referring to as "dead zones", areas with a practically nonexistent online footprint."

The President seemed to consider what she'd said for a moment before staring pointedly into her eyes and telling her in a slightly grave tone of voice, "There's a board meeting scheduled for next Monday. Be prepared to present your progress."

Taken a bit aback by the woman's suddenly somber countenance, Misaki nodded stiffly in acknowledgement and hesitantly replied, "I'll start writing up a report."

The President returned the nod before shifting her focus back to her computer screen. Misaki took the cue that the conversation was over and quickly rose from her seat to leave. She headed back down the hall to her office and closed the door behind her after she walked inside. Making her way over to her desk, she plopped herself down into her seat and let out a heavy sigh. Although she was now a member of the Hero Public Safety Commission's executive board of commissioners, she had been given the position in a sort of probationary capacity. They were testing her to see if she would be able to handle the duties and responsibilities of the role, considering her age and lack of tenure within the company.

The way the President had spoken to her about the upcoming board meeting had come across to her as a warning. She wouldn't be surprised if they were gunning for an excuse to vote her out. She couldn't really blame them for feeling threatened by her. The President had been the only woman sitting on the executive board before she'd come along. Not only that, but she was only twenty-two years old, and had been an employee of the company for less than a year. They'd been pretty much strong armed into accepting her into their ranks on the strength of her abilities alone. If they wanted her out, they had no other option than to prove that she was either incompetent or incapable of performing her required duties.

Well, they were in for a rude awakening if they thought that they could railroad her out of the job. They could test her abilities as much as they wanted. She had no problem demonstrating to any of them what she was capable of at the drop of a hat. She hadn't accepted the job for them, and she couldn't care less about their political agenda. There were much more important things that required her attention at the moment than worrying about whether she had the board's approval or not; the least of which was figuring out where the next finger in this bizarre dismembering case was likely to turn up.

Hawks perched atop his usual lookout spot across from Misaki's apartment, the steam from his breath rising in front of his eyes with every exhale. It was already dark out and he was high enough up that the city lights didn't quite reach his hunched form. She'd just gotten home from work a few minutes ago, not that he'd been there for very long either. He'd been in town for another reason, and it had been somewhat of a spur of the moment decision to drop by and check in on her.

A warm grin tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched her walk into the bedroom and remove her earrings, setting them on her vanity table before lifting the thin gold chain from around the bust in the corner and fastening it around her neck. She was still wearing the necklace he'd given her. Apparently, she only did so when she was at home, but the fact that she wasn't keeping it in a box somewhere at least was encouraging.

Since the curtains were in a rare, completely opened state, he briefly noted that she seemed to have done some redecorating recently. His gaze drifted over the new furniture pieces, recognizing them to be more reminiscent of her usual cozy/chic style. She'd painted too, adding some warm colored accent walls and changing out most of the decorative art pieces, placing a few more potted plants around the living space as well. It seemed as though her wardrobe hadn't been the only thing to have gotten an overhaul recently.

He would've had to have been blind not to notice the sudden change in her choice of work attire when he'd locked eyes on her at the ranking presentation event. Ever since she'd accepted the job as the President's secretary, it almost seemed as though she'd been attempting to emulate her conservative appearance. Although... She may have veered a little too far off the deep end in that respect. The formfitting black and red dress and matching designer heels she'd had on reminded him of the way she'd looked in the dress she'd worn to the charity auction they'd attended on Valentine's Day the year before. He'd had to consciously check himself from falling down that dangerous rabbit hole of fond reminiscence.

But it wasn't just her clothing that appeared to be more mature, her attitude seemed to have headed in that direction as well. She carried herself more confidently, spoke with clear and concise conviction, no longer shied away from uncomfortable situations. She was steadily becoming the woman he'd always known her to be. Strong, confident, compassionate, resolute… Independent. The fact that she had been the one to propose and organize the ranking presentation event told him that she was finally beginning to come into her own within the Commission, just like he'd always hoped she would. And all it had taken was for him to set her free again; this time from him.

He didn't want to take it personally. He wanted to be happy for her, and honestly he was. But the little devil on his shoulder couldn't help suggesting that maybe he'd been the one holding her back all this time. The angel on his right would argue that the act of setting her free had actually helped her on her way to becoming the woman she was today. Honestly, whether either one of them were right or wrong didn't really matter in the grand scheme of things. As long as she was happy with who she was and the direction her life was heading, that was all that really mattered.

Feeling like he'd probably spent more time than he should have just checking in on her, Hawks prepared himself to take off from his perch when he noticed something that suddenly halted him in his tracks. Misaki had just glanced down at her phone, bitten the edge of her bottom lip, and smiled. His blood ran cold. He knew that look. Given her new level of comfortability with her obvious hotness, it wouldn't really surprise him if she had a few more admirers now. But had she met someone else already?

She lifted the phone up to her ear and started talking while walking toward the sliding doors. Against his better judgement, he immediately sent a feather over to her balcony to eavesdrop. He couldn't quite make out what was being said on the other end of the line, but the deep intonation he was picking up was clearly that of a man's voice. He resisted the urge to move a bit closer.

"Sorry I had to cancel the other day," her apologetic voice sounded to him through his feather. "Yeah, just work stuff. How is everything?"

He thought maybe he picked up the words "wanted to see" and "picture" from the voice on the other end of the line, but he couldn't be one-hundred percent sure.

Misaki suddenly giggled. "Yeah, I did. It was so cute!"

Why did that sound still make him weak in the knees?

She sighed dejectedly. "I don't know. Things are pretty hectic with work right now. I don't know when I'll have some off time again any time soon."

Her voice sounded clearly regretful, like she was actually looking forward to meeting up with whoever it was she was talking to.

She smiled softly before lightly saying, "Thanks, I will."

Again, he resisted the urge to move closer.

"Christmas?" She suddenly asked. "I don't know yet. Why?"

That was coming up soon, wasn't it? Which meant that it was approaching what would have been their one-year anniversary as well...

"Are you sure? I don't want to impose," he heard her say through his feather, effectively breaking him out of his musings.

Hold up. Had she just been invited out for Christmas?

"Well alright..." her grudging tone sounded out. "But no presents, okay?"

Huh? No presents? Just how serious was this new relationship of hers at this point?

She suddenly giggled again. "I believe it. To be honest, I'll probably end up getting something too. You don't know how much I miss seeing that smile in person."

He knew that tone of longing in her voice. He'd heard it on the other end of the phone too many times to count. Was it possible that she was—?

"Well, I better let you go. I'll call again soon. Yeah, you too. Goodnight." She hung up the phone and shivered before turning around and walking back inside.

Hawks collapsed backward off of the ledge to lay against the concrete rooftop behind him. He couldn't believe it. He didn't wanna believe it. He could hear it in her voice and see it in her expressions. It had only been two and a half months and she was already falling in love with someone else.

If only he'd done what he'd intended to do before he'd broken up with her and buried his feelings deep down where they couldn't affect his judgement. He never should've come back here. He'd just completely compromised himself with that one bad decision. On the bright side, he'd finally found the motivation he needed to remove his temptation to come by her apartment under the pretense of checking up on her. The prospect of possibly seeing her with another man sent his heart plummeting into the pit of his stomach like a lead weight.

He knocked his head against the ground underneath him and squeezed his eyes shut. Opening them a second later, he stared up into the darkened night sky and let out a resigned sigh. Rolling up into a sitting position, he pulled himself up onto his feet and began dusting off his pants and the sleeves of his jacket.

This had been a much-needed wakeup call.

His phone suddenly began vibrating in his pocket and he reached down to fish it out. The lock screen flashed with a message from Central Hospital, notifying him that the procedure was finished and had been a success. That had actually been the reason he'd even come to Tokyo in the first place; to pick up the seemingly dead body of Best Jeanist. A procedure had been developed by the doctors at Central Hospital, based on their research into the Nomu, to place a living body into a state of suspended animation. The body would, for all intents and purposes, appear to be dead, when in actuality the person in the death-like state could be awakened by the proper administration of certain counteractive chemicals.

It was pretty lucky for him that they had that kind of option available, given the assignment Dabi had given him to take out one of the top heroes other than Endeavor. If he showed up with a body that wasn't authentic, he ran the risk of exposure before he'd even accomplished his goal of infiltrating the League of Villains, let alone the end goal of taking them down from the inside out. Jeanist hadn't exactly been gung-ho about the proposal, but he'd agreed to undergo the procedure, given the importance of the mission.

It was time he got his act together and gave the same level of dedication to the job that Jeanist was at the moment. He couldn't be wasting any time or effort on himself right now. His most important duty, now and always, was to protect people. Misaki was just another one of those people. He couldn't afford to see her as anything more than that right now. It didn't make her existence any less important to him, or his feelings for her any less potent. But it did put his involvement with her at the moment into perspective, and it gave him the resolve he needed to finally bury his feelings for her so he could focus on the work he needed to be doing instead.

Hawks turned away from Misaki's apartment and slipped his phone back into his pocket. He slowly slid his eyes closed, and without a backward glance, took off into the sky toward Central Hospital.

~ Author's Note ~

There's a little bit of smut in store for the next chapter and the plot begins to thicken as the conclusion to the finger case comes to a head...

Thank you so much for reading! ❤️

LOLSAT