"Kirigaya." I looked up at the sound of my name. Aizawa was standing next to my desk, so I closed my book after marking my spot.
"Yeah, sensei?"
"I have business to take care of tonight, so we won't be able to meet up like usual. I got a call from Fat Gum though, and he wants to recruit you for a special mission. You will be reporting to him until the mission is over."
I tilted my head to the side. "A… special mission?" Could it be the one that starts Dad's insecurity about me? Is it…?
I shrieked softly as a body draped over mine, and I looked back to see Kirishima's grinning face.
"You're lucky I'm not bimbro. Or your stupid grinning face would've been exploded," I huffed. He only laughed.
"I'm used to it from him." I rolled my eyes and leaned back more into him. "Besides, if you exploded my face, I wouldn't be able to tell you about that mission."
"Oh, right you do intern with Fat Gum, don't you?" I hummed.
"Yep! And we've teamed up with other hero agencies to take down this group of villains. I told Fat Gum about how your quirk is like mine and Tetsubro's, so he wanted me to bring you in."
"Tetsubro? Oh, you mean the guy in Class B with the steel quirk?" He nodded. "Sounds good. What time do we go?"
"Right now, actually. That's why I came over here. To grab you so we can go."
"Alright, see you tomorrow sensei," I said as I shrugged Kirishima off me. I stood up and followed the redhead out of the classroom.
The two of us met up with Tetsutetsu, and we made our way out of the school together. Surprisingly, they didn't lead me to the train station like I was expecting. We instead made our way to the building I had first appeared in this time.
Unlike that day where it was silent and empty, there were people trying to get a closer look at the heroes walking inside. 'Could this have something to do with why Kirishima would occasionally patrol this area? Because Fat Gum's agency is meeting up with others here in this building?'
"Look, it's Red Riot and Real Steel!" a girl shrieked. The two gave identical grins and paused to sign a few autographs. In the meantime, I pushed my way into the building.
"Much better," I murmured as I made my way to where the heroes were gathering. I stuck to the sidelines to avoid talking to anyone, which was working splendidly until….
"Looks like a little birdie flew into a new nest." I turned my head and came face to face with Keigo Takami.
AKA the reason for Dad's insecurity.
"How can a birdie with no wings fly anywhere, Hawks?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. He merely grinned at me.
"With the grace of any falcon, of course."
I rolled my eyes. "How do you know I'm graceful? I could be the clumsiest chick in the nest for all you know."
"It's a feeling. You have the aura of someone not bound by the ground."
I looked up at the hero silently. Can he really tell that I'm supposed to have wings just by looking at me? Thankfully, I was saved from having to respond by a muscular arm.
"Come on, Kirigaya. We interns should change into our hero uniforms," Kirishima told me.
"Right. Nice chatting with you, Hawks."
"You as well, little birdie." I waved at the winged man while following the redhead to the locker/changing rooms.
"So, what were you two talking about?" came the question a few minutes later as we put our school things away into the lockers. I poked my head around the wall separating our rows.
"Jealous much, Kiri?" I teased.
"What? No way! You know I have Bakubro!" he said quickly. I gave a suspicious 'mmhmm' and moved away to brush my hair into a ponytail. "It's just… Hawks is super manly, and I remember how it felt when our agencies first started collabing. I wanted to see if you got the same feeling too."
"How did it feel?" I asked casually, pausing to lean back against my locker.
"Incredible. Like watching Bakubro go all out for the first time ever. It's easy to see why he's the number one hero now whenever he gives me tips for becoming a better fighter and spars with me. It's exhilarating, man."
'Watching your dad is like indescribable, Shigo. Katsu… is a force of nature, one that couldn't be beat or even touched. Only one person could ever come close to catching my attention like he could.'
As the words from years into the future echoed through my mind, I silently listened to Tetsutetsu ask Kirishima about his new training regimen. Based on what he just said, this is definitely the mission.
The mission that ruins everything.
~Line Break~
"Thank you for coming for another meeting on such short notice. As most of you know, the Fat Gum agency and Hawks agency has been working in secret with a few individual heroes on a mission," Fat Gum said at the head of the meeting table.
"We've been keeping an eye on this group of suspicious figures. There have been reports of robberies and such, but the thieves have been taking odd things that don't seem to have any connection to each other," Hawks added.
"How did you realize they were connected then?" I asked as I skimmed through the file Kirishima handed me.
"Because whenever we talked to the victims, they seemed off. They couldn't remember anything that happened around the time of the robbery, and they even denied having lost any inventory," Fat Gum answered.
"Still seems like something the police commission can handle without us putting such a big group together," one of the younger heroes declared. I rolled my eyes but said nothing.
"Any of you recognize this guy?" Hawks asked as a mug shot appeared on the screen behind him.
I barely managed to hide my reaction to the picture. It was the villain from my time! The one hat took control of Dad!
"About three months ago, he broke out of prison. And now we've been seeing him in the camera footage from the robberies. Unfortunately, he seems to only show up for one or two frames before he seemingly vanishes," Hawks continued.
"Is it a teleporting quirk? Like Kurogiri's? Or maybe just a flash quirk?"
"We considered that a possibility as well, which is why we asked Hawks to help with this mission in the first place. But no, it's not either of those. At least, there are no signs that it's either of them," Tetsutetsu answered.
"Our main objective is to find and capture him. Not only is he an escaped convict, but he also seems to be in the center of all these robberies," Fat Gum told us.
"Can we even corner him though?" I mumbled softly. "He vanishes without any sort of trace. It would take luck to even spot him, much less get our hands on him."
"You're a logical one, little birdie," I blushed a little and looked up as Hawks spoke. I hadn't realized I said that out loud…. "Erasorhead told us your problem-solving skills are at the top of the class. What do you think we should do?"
I leaned back in my chair and crossed my arms. I've been going over hypothetical scenarios with Dad and Deku since I started at UA in order to prepare for leading groups. I've prepared for this type of thing for three years. Now it's time to put that preparation to good use.
"We need to predict where the next robbery will take place. There's no other way to catch him. We find a pattern and have undercover heroes patrol that area in secret while other heroes act as spotlights to gain attention. We only have a brief moment to actually grab him, so those who specialize in quick captures will be essential to this mission," I stated after a few moments of thinking.
The other heroes around me looked impressed while Kirishima grinned and nudged me lightly. I merely smirked at the approval filling the room.
"I have a team finding a pattern to the robberies already. When one is found, everyone will be messaged with further instructions. For now, let's look out for him during patrols. Meeting adjourned."
The heroes all stood up and talked amongst themselves. I saw Kirishima go to talk to Fat Gum, so I used this as my chance to sneak out of the conference room. I took the stairs up to the roof and made sure no one else was around before calling Aizawa.
"Kirigaya, I told you I have something important…."
"The guy that controlled Da… I mean Bakugou is here in this time. He's the focus of the special mission I was recommended into," I said quickly. The teacher was silent for a moment before he sighed softly.
"Are you sure it's him?"
"Positive: I would recognize his face from my files anywhere. It's him exactly too, not just the younger version of him. He somehow followed me back in time."
"Do you think he broke into the building with the time machine in order to follow you so that he could interfere with your mission?"
"I'm assuming so. There's no other reason for him to…."
I made a sound of surprise as my phone was plucked out of my hand. I whipped around in time to see a red feather drop the device into a certain blonde's hand.
"Hey there, Erasorhead. I'm gonna just talk to Scarlet X for a while. She'll give you a call back." With that, Hawks hung up and pocketed my phone. We stood there in silence having a stare down for a while. "You should be more careful, little birdie. You never know who could be listening in on your phone calls."
"You shouldn't use your feathers to spy on other heroes, Hawks. It's rude."
"But that's the best way to find out interesting stuff. Like how you're from the future and Aizawa is in on it."
"What of it? Not like I'm here to commit a crime," I pointed out. "'Sides, this is a covert operation."
"Clearly, or else you would've gotten help sooner from someone besides your teacher." I only looked at him blankly, and he sighed. "What is your mission exactly?"
"Why should I tell you?" I snorted.
"If you don't, I'll tell Nezu your little secret." I glared at him, which only made him smirk. "I'm assuming based on that look that he isn't aware of your true purpose in his school."
"My mission is on a need-to-know basis. Neither of you need to know," I huffed. He raised an eyebrow expectantly. "Fine, dammit!" I crossed my arms and reluctantly told him the events that led me to going back in time and the details of my mission.
"Ok, so you were sent to prevent two young adults from being idiots one night within the next year. Doesn't sound too hard."
"It's not. Or at least it wasn't before today. The guy you showed today? He's the one that mind controlled my dad. I was telling sensei before you so rudely interrupted that I believe he followed me here to stop me from changing the future. Because that is exactly how he looks in the future."
The blond looked thoughtful as he went over my words. I shifted from foot to foot impatiently.
"Alright, I'm going to lend you a wing on this one." I looked up at him expectantly. Of course, he was going to join in…. "Both missions are focused on the same guy, and he will undoubtedly target you the moment he sees you out on patrol. Therefore, we are going to be partners with me in the air and you on the ground."
"Don't you usually partner with Kirishima though? I don't want anyone to get suspicious about you suddenly switching things up."
"Who says I can't partner with both of you?"
I snorted and walked to the staircase. "Fine. Leave me with that sneaky little feather in case I need to tell you something quickly."
I felt a feather drop my phone into my pocket before tucking into my hair behind me ear, and I made my way downstairs for my patrol.