Kae Membrana: Hehehe yeah. I put my characters through some shit in almost every story. And thanks for being my one regular reviewer here. 3

Some goofs in this chapter. Enjoy~

After the hero basics training one day, Luffy went to All Might after class, having been thinking something. All Might was sick. And he'd lost his quirk. But how had he lost his quirk? Was it still there? Could it be repaired? He knew things would be weird if he had his power back all of the sudden, but crime rates had spiked after his retirement and Endeavor still wasn't seen as number one by the general public.

He wasn't likable or relatable, no matter if he was trying his best. Not everybody was a Hawks or All Might. He just wasn't approachable. It just wasn't him, so maybe having All Might back would be good for the world. Hawks wouldn't care if he was pushed back to number three again, even if Endeavor would throw a tantrum and push everyone away from him even more.

Luffy wasn't going to say something revealing. "All Might, why is your quirk gone?" he asked bluntly after class while the others went to change into their uniforms. All Might looked surprised with the question. But he seemed to tell the truth.

"My injuries against All For One damaged my body so I can no longer use my quirk," he replied.

"If your quirk came back, your body still wouldn't be able to handle it?" All Might shook his head, and Luffy deflated. The retired hero asked why he was asking. "My wings grew back stronger than before and I've had a spike in my other abilities. I was thinking that it would be cool if it somehow happened to you, but if your body can't handle it because of your injury, I guess it wouldn't matter."

All Might said it was the sad truth that he couldn't be a pro-hero again. "That's why I enjoy teaching, to help shape a new Symbol of Peace," the teacher said in a happy voice.

Luffy laughed and said it definitely wouldn't be him, and to not get his hopes up. He asked why. "I want to be Hawks' sidekick. Or at least one of them," he replied simply. All Might said he was sure he'd do well in that.

"The public has already seen you work together multiple times. I think you'll make a good sidekick," he said. Luffy beamed and said he hoped so. "Now, go get changed and meet back in the classroom." Luffy nodded and then All Might said, "You've made my day about wishing my quirk to come back like yours did." Luffy beamed again and nodded, flying back since the class was already way ahead of him.

He was bummed that the miracle water couldn't get All Might back on his feet. It hadn't been healing liquid, or he would have lost his scars. Or maybe it had a time limit. But he'd gotten his regenerative quirk two years ago, and nothing from before healed. So maybe the time limit was only a few years.

All Might had been injured six years ago. That's what he told them when Tsu had asked. So, there was little hope that he would heal even if it was a healing liquid and not one that boosted quirks. He didn't know if or how long the boost would last, but he didn't expect his wings to disappear. They weren't an illness that had been cured, they were a mutant quirk. It wouldn't dissolve. He wasn't worried, which was great.

When he flew home, it wasn't a patrol day and he did his homework before going back to the tallest perch in the country and sitting there, eating the food he brought with him. He wasn't in his hero costume, not doing hero work. He had his face shield on and his phone in his pocket. He'd been able to make flaps on his jean pockets to zip them shut so his phone didn't fall out.

He got a call late at night, Hawks asking where he was. "The roof of Harukas. I'm just chilling."

"Do you have money with you?"

"I already placed an order to go at Rochel's. They'll call when it's done."

"You know me too well."

"It's pretty convenient for you, though."

"I guess that's true," he laughed. Luffy asked how Tokoyami had been that day. "Did you tell him something? He was a lot friendlier today. What did you do?"

Luffy kicked his feet over the edge, looking down at the small ant-sized people far below. The small cars and the bright lights of other buildings. It was relaxing, and he didn't really do night flights anymore. "Just told him that you care about him and want him to loosen up. And that he doesn't need to think he's weak when you tell him to watch and instead you want him to be ready enough to handle his own stuff if he needs to or if you need his support," he explained.

"It seemed to do the trick, but he still calls me Hawks-sensei, but that part is so cute."

"Better not let him hear you say that." They talked a bit more before Luffy got an alert on his phone that the food was ready. "I'm gonna get the food and then fly home. See you soon."

"Okay, be careful."

He said that every time Luffy went somewhere and he wasn't with him. Even for short flights to the grocery store. The effects still lingered from both the nomu attacks and kidnapping. Luffy had seemed to finally move on enough that it didn't haunt him daily when his wings came back. Hawks hid his trauma, but it was clearly still there.

Luffy was just glad he wasn't forced to stay home all the time. He picked up the food and then flew home, hoping it wouldn't get too cold before they ate. He flew inside when Hawks saw his glowing wings and put the food on the counter. "You're like a carrier pigeon delivering food."

"A mutant one who can glow. Pretty cool pigeon," Luffy said casually, not bothered by the teasing.

-x-

After Luffy found an elderly woman looking confused and lost, he found out that she had left an old folks home and didn't remember how to get back, and was panicking. She didn't have a phone and didn't know the number, so Luffy quickly did a fly over and found the retirement home easily. After all, she was slow and old and couldn't have gotten far.

"How about I walk you back, ma'am?" Luffy offered. She looked upset but nodded, and Luffy linked elbows and walked at her pace back to the old folks home where the staff were freaking out but were happy when she made it back.

"Thank you, we were so worried," the caretaker for her said in tears. Luffy said he was doing his job, but even if he wasn't a hero it would be the right thing to do. He asked if they had a bathroom for guests. "Yes, I'll lead you there," another nurse said while the caretaker helped the elderly woman whose name he didn't know.

They walked down the halls and Luffy heard a weird thrumming noise, but dismissed it. He ended up in a bathroom in the oldest part of the facility, and then when he was done, he hid his wings and became snoopy, looking for the noise before he found a room with the boiler. It explained the noise.

Then he saw a trap door under a crate that he moved out of the way. Everything in here was dusty, clearly not touched in a while. He broke the lock on the handle and pulled the trap door open. It led down a stone staircase and his curiosity got the better of him and he walked down it through the dark.

The thrumming noise faded and he heard beeping noises instead, and came into a large stone room with a big door. He quietly opened the vault, which barely squealed at all, and flew in so he made no noise. But then he flew back to the door with his hands over his mouth. The tanks in there had huge nomus in them.

Was this where they had been manufactured? And he didn't hear or see anybody inside. Then he heard footsteps coming from another door in the main room and he shut the door before flying up into the rafters silently. He perched up there, his wings gone so they didn't give him away and made room for him to sit.

He saw it was a tall man that walked in wearing what looked like a doctor's outfit. Luffy couldn't see his face but he started to fiddle with the huge screen with tons of buttons that he hadn't seen before. He saw there were photos of himself on the screen, Hawks, Endeavor and a handful of other heroes that he didn't recognize.

Luffy watched as he pulled a chip out of that device and stuck it into the one that seemed to be attached to the tank of one of the nomu. He pressed his headset, so relieved that he was on her duty and so he had the special one on. Hawks asked what was up. Luffy pressed the button below on the bottom of the earphone that was an SOS button.

"Are you inside?" Luffy pressed the yes button. "Are you safe?" Luffy pressed the no button. "Do you need help?" he pressed the yes button. "Do I bring a lot of people?" No. "Okay, I'll go to your location and standby until you send me another message." He pressed the yes button to show he was fine with that.

He stayed up in the rafters for a good hour before the man got up and left the room. Luffy flew to the computer and stole the chip before flying out and up the staircase at full speed, crawling out of the hidden entrance and putting the crate over it before turning around and bumping into Hawks. "We need to leave now," Luffy whispered and both of them left through the back door so nobody knew Luffy had been snooping around.

Both of them flew far, far away before Luffy felt safe. "What happened?" Hawks asked, both of them on top of a tall roof.

"I found where the nomu have been being developed. There's a secret lab far below that place that has all sorts of black nomus in tanks. I didn't get a good look at the guy's face but I was trapped in the room with him for an hour as he fiddled around his computer." He pulled the chip out of his pocket. "I managed to steal this, I don't know what's on it."

Hawks looked shocked and horrified that it was under an old folks home. "Well, it's an unexpected location. Let's go home and check it on the computer." Luffy nodded and put it back in his pocket. It was scary. Very scary since he'd been attacked by two black nomus that almost killed him. Had the power to kill him.

Everyone thought that the League was somehow developing the nomus but they had never found the locations or equipment that would be able to have been used for such a thing. But who was that man? Was he part of the League? Luffy didn't recognize his hair or anything of what he could see.

When they got inside, they went to the top secret room that Hawks had the only code for and went inside to the main computer. He shut and locked the door behind them before Luffy got to the computer and plugged the driver in. Immediately there was a passcode needed.

Luffy punched in the numbers he'd seen used by using his enhanced eyesight for once, which was rarely helpful. It gave him access to all sorts of files under different names. Luffy clicked on one of them and found they were each full of what seemed to be vital readings. Based on the first folder's information, the nomus were hard to develop and took time and resources.

It was 56% complete. The same with the other ones, nearly the same amount of time. Then there were dates of when they were first created. Almost all of them lined up closely to the first attack on Luffy. That was a couple months ago, which gave them a couple months until they were completed.

Each nomu file had photos of Luffy, Hawks and Endeavor in them. "Are they being programmed to recognize us?" Hawks asked, very concerned.

"Probably. If they're all completed around the same time, we're screwed."

"Well, then we're not gonna let them be finished. That's the only option," Hawks replied. Luffy's hands were still shaking, and he hadn't realized they had in the first place. He'd been high on adrenaline the whole time in there so he didn't recognize the fear underneath it. "Are you okay?"

Luffy nodded and balled his fists. "I guess I'm still scared of them," he said simply, honestly. Hawks said it was reasonable and understandable based on the experiences he'd had with the smart ones. "The last time, that nomu was speaking when I couldn't hear it, but it followed orders of the League and then switched loyalties when I told it what to do."

Hawks was still confused as to why that had happened. "I'm not psychotic and think the other ones will follow my words, but the last time saved me. And if they're being programmed with all three of us, it's clear it's not to be buddy buddy."

Hawks leaned against the wall and sighed. "Man, I thought we were done with these freaks," he complained. Luffy nodded, and his hands finally stopped shaking.

The younger said, "I think the most efficient way to kill them is to have them do it themselves. Go for the brain. It was just hard to get Hood to fucking stay still enough for me to kill it." Hawks nodded, and said that the smart ones are the most worrisome thing he'd seen in years. "The one that kidnapped me had an alarming quirk, where it was able to separate its body into tiny pieces to get inside the apartment."

Hawks saw him bite his lip and said they should stop talking about it. "Why don't you write everything down and I'll give it to the heroes I contact. I'll be trying to get everybody with this. Endeavor would help, no doubt, and he has contacts I don't have who all have contacts he doesn't have.

"It'll have to be a big operation." Luffy nodded and typed out what he saw for the hour and how he got down there and the mysterious man's appearance. He sent it to Hawks and then said he was going home for the rest of the night. "Do something fun."

"Yup," Luffy said. When he changed out of his costume upstairs, he finally let out a deep breath and went on the couch and curled into a ball, his eyes wide. He knew he wouldn't be able to be his best on this huge mission. He was terrified of the black nomus. The wing-destroyers. Both of them easily ripped them off.

He sucked them in immediately, his body reacting badly. What would happen if his wings disappeared once he saw any of the nomus again? What if he had to fight and suddenly was too scared to do so? He'd be a liability.

But he was getting ahead of himself. He knew Hawks believed in him, but he also knew what happened whenever the black nomus were mentioned. The way Luffy's body tensed visibly and his hands shook. It was embarrassing, but he knew Hawks would pull the age card and not allow Luffy to go.

But he'd be scared for Hawks. He didn't have Luffy's regeneration ability. But, Hawk's wings grew back all the time. If the base was still there, the feathers would reform. Luffy remembered the time there had been a house fire when Luffy was nine and Hawks came out with a charred wing that took three days to go back to their original appearance.

He had to trust Hawks and his ability as a top hero. He sighed and put his face in his knees. When Hawks came up, he flopped down on the couch, which Luffy had left to start dinner, his face blank with just a touch of sadness.

"Well, I've called everybody and they've called everybody," the pro-hero said. Luffy nodded. "I don't think you should go."

Luffy nodded again, admitting he'd probably end up being a burden. "They still scare me, if I'm faced with a bunch of them, I'd have some episode or something."

"I'm sorry, Luffy."

"Not your fault. I don't want to go, anyways. I don't want to ruin the plan and don't even want to go for my own reasons. I don't want to regress. What I saw of them was obscured in the tanks. I just know they were very big."

Hawks nodded, based on the pictures he'd seen, they were very large. "However this mission goes, you were instrumental. No one would have found that place. Apparently the building has been there long before it was a retirement home. He could have been under there for decades." Luffy wondered how he got in and out for food. "There could be someone on the inside in the retirement home, bringing him food. Because that crate was found over the door, right?"

"Yeah."

"I think we need to get everyone out of that building and take them somewhere secure while the incident happens." Luffy pointed out that some of the old folks weren't mentally stable and might have a hard time. He added that he felt the mission was more important than their comfort, but they would need to evacuate them carefully. "I agree."

They didn't talk about the nomus anymore, after Hawks said he was told he'd get a lot of responses in the morning. Luffy nodded and went to bed after dinner, taking some sleep pills.

When he woke up, it was early and he had to use the bathroom and would then go back to sleep. When he walked into the bathroom, he looked at the mirror and just stared at it before screaming. He rubbed his eyes and put his hand on the mirror, trying to convince himself it was him he was seeing.

The screaming woke up Hawks and he opened the door, looking exhausted. He shouted to and then Luffy changed back into his own body. He no longer had Hawks' appearance. "Um… is this a new quirk?" Hawks asked after both of them calmed down and Luffy was sure he was his own self now. Skinnier than Hawks. He was even dressed in Hawks' pajamas when he looked like him.

Luffy said he hadn't seen any new quirks in a long time. Not since the League's defeat. But he'd had surgery to have those ones removed along with the other twenty that had grown back. And as far as he knew, Toga Himiko was able to shape shift, but only after consuming blood. Luffy was positive he had never tasted Hawks' blood and the thought made his face turn into a look of disgust.

"Can you try and do it on purpose? Try with someone other than me," Hawks said, unable to hide the interest in his voice. Luffy thought of Todoroki and his body changed. "That's so crazy. You look exactly like him."

"Do I sound like him?" Hawks nodded. Luffy lit one arm on fire and the other covered with ice.

Hawks said this was amazing. "Yeah, only if I can control it okay," Luffy replied. He changed back into himself again. "The clothes change as well." He changed into Endeavor, his body growing taller and more muscular until he was in his image, even with the clothes. "I love that you still have a stuffed doll of me. It makes me happy to know you're my number one fan." Hawks threw the couch pillow at him.

Luffy changed back and said, "I thought you said it was amazing." Hawks said he had no hope that Luffy would be mature anytime soon. "Excuse me?! You're saying that to me? Probably your fault I'm sarcastic and joke all the time." He grinned. "You're a bad influence."

Hawks pretended to be devastated and hung his head, saying his heart was broken and there was no hope left in the world. And that Luffy had killed his soul and it would be his fault he wouldn't be the number two hero anymore. "You don't even want to be number two."

"It's still cool. Just don't like how responsible it makes me have to be. I can't nap much while being number two," he complained.

"You know most jobs don't let their workers nap at random while they're working? Even if you're the boss," Luffy replied. Hawks stuck his tongue out at him. Luffy changed himself into Hawks and stuck his tongue out back.

"No! Don't change into me," he said sternly.

Luffy moped. "But I want to be cool."

"You think I'm cool," he chuckled.

"Very much, Hawks-sama," he said as Endeavor. The pillow was thrown at him again.