The day came that they both flew out and to the airport. They were getting the whole cargo plane to go to America to make it seem like the two snuck onto it. Hawks was strapped to the wall, duffle bag full of clothes. Mostly his since Luffy could just transform again into another outfit. Luffy's face shield was there.
Nothing too revealing, nothing to give them away. Luffy wasn't strapped, but was floating with Uraraka's power so he wasn't in danger of flying around, not that it would hurt him now that he had managed to learn how to harden his head and face with Kirishima's quirk. He was pretty much invincible with his quirks, but he never let that get to his head and make him reckless. Never.
The plane took off from Nagoya instead of their hometown. It would be easier for anyone to see them board a plane at home than somewhere else. They just flew right into it from the back, out of sight quickly. A clean getaway. It was just sad that it would be a 20 hour flight and they were stuck in the back. They had brought pillows to sleep over the ride, but nothing else.
They practiced their conversations, Hawks switching between sweet and angry for every occurrence. He didn't like doing it, but he hadn't lost his talent at deception and fakery. Luffy could see why he'd always told the truth to Luffy. Not just to build trust, but because he spent over 15 years being a liar. A good one. He didn't want to lie anymore. At least, not when it was unnecessary.
The plane ride was boring, both of them nervous but slowly getting control of their emotions. "For once, I'm glad that the Commission taught me some things, and I taught you them, too. Only, not in a bad way. How to calm and clear your mind, reign in your emotions if they get too strong. How to think rationally and not panic, like when you got the hologram of me supposed to be a hostage."
Luffy nodded, saying they had saved him before. When he was tortured, the only way he got out was to calm himself and take advantage of the dire situation. "It's also good for getting in arguments with other people," he laughed, though it was a bit strained. It was an honest laugh, just not as strong as usual.
"Glad it helped in the small things, too. After we're done with this, we're going on vacation somewhere," he announced. Luffy told him about telling his friends they'd go to the beach. "Maybe we can go camping with Ace. We can tell him about how the situation was when you were saved. He might not hate me anymore!" he said positively.
Luffy replied, "I don't think he hates you. He's jealous that I spend time with you every day. I can totally see why, and I'm not annoyed with him for feeling that way at all." Hawks said he agreed that it was probably how anyone in his situation would feel.
"But now that we know the Commission wants you, and we don't want Ace to get involved, you can't go live with him." Luffy said he wasn't planning to. He really didn't want to get Ace too mixed in. For his own safety. "I feel the same. He's a good person, and personally I don't want him to be upset or sad."
When both of them got tired, Luffy strapped himself to the side next to Hawks and they put the crappy pillows behind their heads and slept until Luffy's phone went off as an alarm. He woke up and realized Hawks' wings were smothering his face. He moved them to the side and woke him up. It was 8:00. The plane was to land at 11:00.
He unstrapped himself and then woke Hawks up. "3 hours until we land," he said, and Hawks was fully awake instantly, and stood up, unhooking himself. He stretched out his wings wide, and Luffy was glad his didn't get stiff anymore. His wings - Hawks' wings - were still Luffy's favorite quirk, even if it wasn't the only one he used. He used it the most, of course, since he flew everywhere.
Luffy honestly couldn't remember the last time one of the cars had to have the gas refilled. The pro-hero popped his neck. His hair and eyes were recognizable, so he had gel to slick his hair back and dark sunglasses. He looked even more professional with the sunglasses paired with the suit.
He would put them on when not flying. They were both pacing back and forth for the next three hours, and Luffy was sure Hawks was going over the plan in his head, too. Only he was muttering it out loud in english very quietly, pulling a Midoriya mumble. They were finally told they had landed and people were there to meet them.
"Good luck. We'll be waiting for your return," the pilot said over the intercom. Luffy changed into little girl form, wearing a pink dress with yellow flowers on it and new tennis shoes. Hawks slicked his hair back with the gel and put the sunglasses on.
"Ready?" Hawks asked. Luffy took a deep breath and nodded. The ramp lowered and they walked out. Hawks' wings were very obvious, but the president was sure nobody in America was interested in heroes from Japan when they never teamed up or interacted.
America was much bigger than Japan, so there must be more avian types. Luffy had no cut out squares on his back for his wings to come out easily. They could, but it would rip the clothes in the process. He was only to use his wings if the situation got really bad. That would definitely blow their cover and let everybody know he had more than one quirk.
He grabbed onto Luffy's small arm, who is making an unsure face, looking nervous and confused. "Tatsuki-san, where are we going now?" he asked, saying the made up name they'd come up with.
"Somewhere fun," Hawks said dryly. Luffy didn't look convinced, more nervous as he hurried to keep up with his small legs. He felt so weak and vulnerable even if he could use all of his quirks in this body as well. He was too small.
A car was waiting for them. Hawks looked at it skeptically. "You think my wings will fit in there?" he asked in a hard voice to the man they'd arranged to pick him up. Nobody knew that they were undercover.
The man also in fancy, cliche-spy clothes looked flustered, and said he had underestimated the size of his wings. Hawks sighed and said he'd fly above the car. "Wait, you're not gonna stay with me?" Luffy asked in worry.
"You can handle a few minutes to get to our stop, right?" he asked, crouching and looking suddenly nice. Luffy nodded and got into the back seat of the car. This was not planned, but they were rolling with it. Luffy clipped himself into the backseat, the picture of nervousness as the man started to drive, Hawks flying overhead, as Luffy could hear him easily.
"Um, what's your name?" Luffy asked timidly. When the guy ignored him, he looked disappointed and said nothing else on their way to the place. There had been extensive background checks and fake documents to be allowed to bring Luffy there. They knew he had a regeneration power, so he was seen as valuable.
He hoped things would go to plan.
When they arrived at the area, the car went down into a parking garage, Hawks landing at the elevator. Luffy was filming the moment the car entered the car garage. He filmed as Hawks walked over, glasses back on and not his face shield, and brought his bag with him as it had been put in the trunk.
Luffy hurried to Hawks. "I hope you behaved well," he said coldly. Luffy nodded his head, wringing his hands together. Luffy looked at the guard/servant/helper as he put a key in the elevator, keeping filming the whole time as the elevator opened, but went down, surprisingly. Hawks and Luffy went inside and stood in awkward silence with the driver. Whatever his role was, the other two didn't know much. Didn't know his name or place in this situation. When they got down, not too deep into the ground, Luffy was filming again, having not used it in the elevator.
The driver, as Luffy would think of him as, led them through what seemed like a normal office, maybe a basement office, until they got to the far wall that was pushed open by a lever that was a dictionary in a shelf. Cliche to the max.
There was a screening they went through, searching for any cameras or mics. There were none besides one that couldn't be detected at all. He looked around slowly, looking troubled and not like he was seeing as much as he possibly could without looking suspicious. Hawks grabbed him tightly by the arm.
Luffy winced, like the grip was painful, but he walked right next to him. His face was a blank, serious expression. He might be having a harder time than Luffy. Who knows? When they walked through the area that was more like a warehouse, they arrived at a hatch and walked down more stairs.
"You'd better behave," Hawks said coldly. Luffy asked that he had said the place would be fun. Hawks gave him a look. "N-Nevermind," Luffy mumbled quickly, gripping his dress with his hand that wasn't being held harshly by Hawks.
They finally reached their destination after many stairs. There was a large cage filled with animals, though many of them looked unnatural. The president had said some turned into animals. Were these all children before? He held in his anger that these poor kids were in a hell like this. Hopefully this could be reversed.
Eri was gaining control slowly, she may be able to fix these children. No, the mission was only surveillance. They'd have to hope there was somebody like Eri in America who could save them. "I don't want to go in there," Luffy said. Hawks didn't reply, just looked forward, ignoring him.
They arrived where the faceless perpetrator was. He had a mask on, of course, but had a feathered jacket, pink in color. He was taller than Hawks, but Hawks wasn't all that tall. Well, now he was to Luffy since he was so much shorter.
"Oh? What's your name?" he asked in a slimy voice. Hawks jerked his arm when he didn't answer. "Lucy," he said in a small voice, starting to hide behind Hawks' leg. He yanked him forward again. "Well Lucy, we're gonna take good care of you."
"Um, what's the animals?" Hawks told him he knew better than to ask questions harshly. Luffy nodded quickly.
"Now, now, we want you to be comfortable here," the villain said, but hadn't given his name yet. Luffy had footage of him though, just not his face. He doubted he'd get that chance. "We have some nice clothes for you to wear during your stay here," the man said. He handed Luffy an outfit that wasn't rags like he expected, but what looked like pajamas. "There's a changing room right there so you can go change."
Hawks commanded Luffy to go there. Luffy nodded and hurried into the changing room. He created a clone immediately. Then he compressed himself and used a tiny feather to roll him out from under the dressing room's gap between the wall and floor, like a bathroom stall.
He had the feather push him far away, and Luffy did so, rolling around over and over, which would make most people sick. He stayed in the shadows now, looking for anyone he could knock out and take their place. He put his glasses on that had been holding into the side of his disguises panty line, the only place he could have stored it since the dress had no pockets.
He found one going to the bathroom and compressed him into a ball, changing himself into the man after seeing him briefly, and sticking the bead into his pocket. He pretended to go to the bathroom, flushing it, and left. He walked down the hallway, passing busy bodies. It wasn't strange for workers to move around, which was helpful.
Luffy walked confidently, flicking his eyes in every direction to see everything without moving his head. They filmed from his pupils, so it would always film what he was looking at. He was approached by a man who looked more in charge. "Take these reports to Kaido immediately," the man said, his voice surprisingly high. Luffy gave a nod, and focused on his face, which was mostly visible except some of his eyes and forehead. He wasn't concerned about being seen, it seemed. He had a problem though. Who was Kaido? Well, he'd find him. He opened his senses, listening for his name to be said.
Even though he had no idea where he was going, Luffy strode confidently. And he shuffled through the papers, making single glances, able to be paused later to look at in more depth. As he saw more things, he used checkpoints to save the recordings and send them to Endeavor's agency. They didn't trust the president to not raid their computers.
Endeavor had been very helpful, sending Hawks a single text. Safe with me. So they were sending the videos to him to keep safe. And they knew he would. This was serious. He heard the name Kaido and followed it, coming across an office with a plaque name on it that read the name.
He knocked on the door. "Delivery, sir Kaido." He didn't use "san" because he wasn't in Japan, and this guard certainly wasn't speaking Japanese. The door opened and Luffy gave a head nod, not a bow. He and Hawks researched differences in behavior from Japan to America. When he was let in, he walked to the desk and presented the papers, perfectly in order and neatly stacked.
Kaido didn't thank him. "How's the Japanese girl? I heard she has a regenerative quirk. Have you met them?"
"Not personally, though I did witness her handler. Their behavior seems legitimate, and they came with nothing suspicious," Luffy replied calmly, just winging it by now. They had no idea what to expect when they came. It was reckless, but it was for their "freedom". Their pretend freedom.
"Good, good. We can use her blood to cure that brat, Sugar. Don't like relying on a brat to mutate them." Luffy just nodded, making mental notes. It sounded like this Sugar was a child and was taking part in the operation, the source of mutating the children. She was sick, and Luffy's blood was supposed to cure her. Too bad for them that they didn't bring the slug water. But, it would have made her more powerful, right? Or was that only Luffy since he had the regenerative power to heal himself? Well, keep himself alive.
"You may leave." Luffy nodded, wished him a good day, and left. Nobody had said a thing about the glasses as they looked like the sunglasses, with a slightly darker film over the glass he used to prevent absorbing quirks. They were pretty hard to tell them apart from others, just like the workers. They all wore the same outfits and slicked back dark hair.
He fit in perfectly. And nobody talked to him, which was helpful as well. He wanted to know what was happening with Hawks, but he trusted the number two hero to take care of himself. He just hoped he wasn't worrying about Luffy. As long as he had the clone, Luffy wouldn't be dead. Hawks would know that.
Luffy inspected more of the institution, wandering around the tall racks of paperwork, weapons and general objects that would be in a law enforcement warehouse. Was the police working with them? Luffy turned invisible and searched through the objects, barely moving them so it didn't look suspicious.
He found multiple things that gave way to show they had somehow gotten things from the police property. Even if he was invisible, he still recorded, even though his eyes were invisible. The camera quirk was extremely helpful. He saved and sent more footage to Endeavor.
He left the evidence, having not touched anything with his finger tips. His hands were used, but he never put his finger tips and left any prints. He kept invisible as he inspected the shelves. Then he went the way he'd come with Hawks, and got footage of the mutated creatures. Many of them looked to be in pain or just asleep.
Some were already not breathing. They were dead and nobody was removing the bodies. Fucking sick. He found the line of children, most looking scared with caretakers like Hawks, none of them speaking and all looking down. He wondered if this was how Hawks was when he was still with the Commission officially.
He found his clone in the clothes, being held in place by Hawks, shoulders gripped tightly. They couldn't let his blood be drawn, as it would poof away. Luffy hurried his investigation, searching anything and everything, looking closely at things, and using his enhanced eyesight to see things he couldn't reach.
He listened, hearing names. Master Doflamingo. Sugar. Pica. . There were a handful, but he didn't know their quirks. Any of them besides a brief belief on what Sugar's quirk was. He skirted his way around the line of children, looking at their faces closely. But then guards started to come his way and he'd be hit, so he used Uraraka's power to float above them.
He landed back down after they passed and continued his move. He touched Hawks' back with a circle. A way of telling him he was fine. An X meant the investigation was over. But he didn't have an X yet.
The invisible teen saved and sent the footage to Endeavor, needing to know the kids faces would be recorded. They had so much information here already. If they ended up dying, Endeavor had everything they needed. But, neither of them would die. Luffy had until the clone was in the front of the line to investigate. That would be the moment they left in an emergency. If they didn't have too, Hawks would use the bathroom and they would both flee, leaving the clone to be discovered when they were long gone.
Luffy found the room where the kids were morphed, many of them dead with some sort of markings that they had been mutated. Their quirks turned against them. They were terrible to see, but Luffy didn't let his emotions get to him.
If he was allowed, Luffy could trap everyone in a ball here. If his explosions, fire and electricity hadn't broken them from the inside these guys couldn't. But they didn't know their quirks, and that was the biggest problem. They had their names or villains' names, but not their quirks. Besides Sugar, who he didn't know who was.
Luffy walked in the back, looking at everything. He grew wings and glided up, barely making any flapping or wing, and got into the rafters, getting a bird's eye view of everything. He floated down, wings gone, and put an X on Hawks' back.
"Can you tell me where the bathroom is?" Hawks asked in his cold voice. Doflamingo told him where it was, and that he'd take good care of Lucy while he was gone. "You. Behave. Understand?" Clone Luffy nodded in fear. Hawks went into the bathroom, Luffy following, before he put the bead down the drain with the worker, merciless, and then put Hawks in one. He put him in his pocket and hurried out of the basement area, but someone was coming down the stairs.
He used Tsu's power and climbed up the wall. Hawks' bead fell out, but Luffy caught it. Though the puff of air touched the man's head. But he kept going before the guy could inspect it anymore. It was that moment that Luffy knew that his clone had poofed away. The building was on lockdown, but Luffy made it to the elevator and ripped open the top and climbed up the wire quickly after digging their phones and Luffy's face shield out of the duffle bag, only leaving clothes inside there.
Once they got out, Luffy released Hawks and they both flew far away, Luffy turning off the camera and sending everything to Endeavor. The last part and then a copy of the whole inspection.
Hawks let out a breath and laughed, high above the sky where anybody could see them. "Neither of us died, huh?"
"Told you so. I've gotten footage of everything and sent it to Endeavor's hero computer and phone. And I sent it to my hidden email. I'll send it to the president later. It looks like the police are involved, there was tons of police evidence on the shelves of the warehouse. I got views of the kid's faces, and someone I think is the one really in charge. Kaido was his name."
Hawks smiled and said Luffy did a great job. Luffy said he was tired from using so many power all at once, but he was fine enough to fly somewhere safe. They couldn't take off on any plane in New York, they'd need to go to a different city and get on the plane without anyone noticing. "Using the compress and invisible quirks worked very well together." Luffy nodded as they flew out of New York city and down the US east coast before stopping in New Jersey. They both had memorized the US map.
"We're doing the plan. Not taking a plane back home, going to Italy, then South Korea and then taking a boat back home. We'll be much harder to chase if they know it's us," Hawks said. Luffy nodded. They had fake passports and a ton of money on a credit card. They flew to New Jersey, and boarded a flight easily, having special passes as heroes, even if they weren't from America.
They got to have first class because Hawks' wings wouldn't fit. Since Luffy was a minor, he was staying with Hawks in the fancy part of the plane. They got fancy drinks, and Hawks' tried their whiskey just to see, and he spit it back into the glass, making Luffy laugh. "What, I've never tasted alcohol before," he said irritatedly.
Luffy was surprised. "The Commission never allowed anyone to drink, and then I picked you up and wanted to be a good role model and hero."
"What a good boy," Luffy teased. Hawks gave him a deadpanned look. He said he doubted Luffy would like the smell of alcohol in the first place. "Why?"
Hawks said, "I always thought you smelled booze out on the streets. Didn't want to bring up any bad memories from the smell." Luffy looked down and had a small smile on. But he was right. Luffy had smelled a lot of alcohol on the streets. A lot of broken bottles littering the streets and alleyways.
"You're right, I probably would have been upset. Thanks," Luffy said. Hawks grinned and said he was glad that was the right choice. And it wasn't like he'd missed it, he'd never tried it before. The flight made it to Italy faster than it took to get to New York, and then the immediately took the flight to South Korea, and then a boat to Japan. It took a couple of days and they went home and slept before they went down to the computer the next day and edited the footage.