It was absolute chaos. Villains and heroes fought tooth and claw in the ruins of the mansion, the earth shook under various quirks and here and there somebody shouted over the sounds of explosions. The little room on the third floor however had been undisturbed for now.
Hawks was looming over the cowering figure of Twice, a dozen feather blades pointed toward the villain. But not a single cut placed. Yet.
Hawks didn't want to do this. It had been just a mission, but Twice had been genuinely friendly to him, even called him a friend. A partner. He swallowed the bilde rising in his throat. The earpiece cracked, and unintelligible words flooded through the intercom. A reminder that the commission could hear every move that was made in this room.
Twice had started to bargain with him, and every word was like a tiny papercut to the heart. The villain blamed himself for bringing Hawks into the league. He had wanted to trust him, but everything he had done led to more traitors. First Overhaul, now him.
It stung.
Even though the commission had given him direct orders, he still had to follow protocol. Give the villain the chance to surrender. Deep inside, Hawks hoped that maybe Twice would surrender. Then he had an excuse to disobey orders. There was a protocol after all. That would not safe him from a punishment but give him an excuse. And the public would side with him.
But Twice did not give him that satisfaction. When he got up to attack one last time, Hawks remembered the way that Toya always used his first name to snap him out of situations. Maybe it would work with Twice as well. Please, let it work with Twice as well.
"Bubaigawara!"
The villain froze for a millisecond, but did not stop his attack. Even worse, he seemed to put more effort in it this time. More desperation.
There was no use, Hawks would have to fight. And kill.
They wrestled over the dirty floor, until Hawk's feather blade was pointed at his throat. Twice wiggled under him, tears streaming down his masked face. Hawks didn't want to do this.
"Surrender, Bubaigawara!"
"Never! You heroes will never understand! They are my friends! My soul only exists for the sake of their happiness!"
It felt as if somebody had hit Hawks in the stomach. He did understand. Too well. But he couldn't do anything about it.
Twice seemed to abandon any reason or restraint, his doppelgangers flooded the room one by one, growing larger and larger by the second.
"I will not let them down this time! Die, Hero!"
Hawks released his feathers, which started to cut through the fake Twices at lightning speed. This was a battle of endurance, the feathers cutting down as fast as Twice was producing new dubles.
"You could have surrendered, Twice. You could have come with me. I liked you, I really did."
"Liar! These are my only friends!"
Twice summoned doubles of the league: Toga, Spinner, Compress, Shigaraki, they all came rushing towards Hawks but were not as stable as the ones before. A desperate attempt of a desperate man. They collapsed before they could even reach Hawks, but when he noticed the doppelganger of Dabi in the back of the group, he froze for a heartbeat.
The feathers cut through the rest of them with ease, getting rid of the doppelgangers faster than Twice could summon them now.
Hawks thought about how it was always the ones who did not give up that were the most dangerous. On both sides. How he admired Twices resolve, his dedication to his cause and his friends. How he was sorry. But he couldn't say any of this, because it could be used against him. The intercom buzzed. The voice of a man.
"Finish it, Hawks. We need you downstairs."
Just like that. Finish it. As if this was just another task and not the life of a human being.
He charged forward, feather blade out and pinned Twice to the ground.
"When neither side wants to give up, the only option is to kill." His voice was strained, the blade in his hand too heavy.
"You are not heroes. You don't deserve to call yourself heroes." Twice spat in his face. "It's you who throw people away like garbage when they don't act the way you want them to."
Hawks froze in the movement. When they don't act the way you want them to. Twice was right, he was no hero. He was a coward at best. He couldn't move. His feathers still moved, but his hands were frozen in place.
There was a noise outside of the room. Small, quiet, Hawks wouldn't have heard it if not for his sensitive feathers spread around the perimeter. Like a foot on gravel, and a quiet hissing sound. He had one breath to grab Twice and hurl themselves out of the way as blue flame erupted through the doorframe into the room. What an entrance, thought Hawks absentmindedly. They could have been toast. The tip of his left wing burned, and the remains of a singed feather fell to the ground. He swallowed.
They hadn't seen each other since the evening on the roof. Hadn't talked this through. He didn't know if Dabi would even follow through with his plan.
The light coming through the open door threw a shadow over Dabi's face.
"You let yourself get distracted by your emotions, Hawks."
His steps were muffled by the burnt wood of the floorboards as he came into the room. His left hand was still engulfed in blue flames. With a flick of his wrist, another wave of hot blue flames rolled towards them, but it was easy for Hawks to duck them this time. It was as if Dabi's aim was off on purpose.
"You've lost a lot of your weapons," he stated with a grin and looked around at the burnt remains of his feathers scattered across the room. Hawks grabbed his feather sword tighter. The tips of his wings burned and it smelled awful. Bile was rising in his throat.
"Don't tell me you figured out that I would betray you." Hawks voice was mocking, but strained from the smell and smoke. Dabi's lips quirked and pulled at his staples. The smile was sickening.
"I didn't trust you from the start."
It felt as if Hawks was falling. As if his wings have suddenly disappeared and he was tumbling to the ground at incredible speed. This was an act, he told himself.
The air in his lungs had suddenly not enough oxygen, but his face betrayed nothing. His voice was even, nonchalant. "Even after all the things I did to prove myself?"
"I thank you for that." Dabi retorted with a mocking grin.
"Oh, yeah?"
Hawks heart was racing. This was a carefully crafted act, meant for the people on the other side of his bug. The intercom in his ear crackled. "Hawks, permission to eliminate villain Dabi on sight."
Permission. Like the good little lapdog he was. But this would end here. He was no lapdog, he was a bird of prey.
The room was cramped, with just one door and a window. If Dabi would unleash the full potential of his fire quirk, he would hit the jackpot. There would be nothing left for them to use anymore. He would just have to get Twice out of here. The villain was gravely injured, but nothing life threatening. He had made sure to avoid vital organs in his attack. He would not make any trouble in the foreseeable future, but he would live. And it would look like-
Twice stirred, and suddenly burst out from under his grasp.
"Dabi, burn him!" He ran towards the door, and Dabi unleashed another load of flames. The window burst, and everyone outside must have seen that he was fighting someone up here.
Hawks was thrown through the glass by the updraft of hot air, but managed to gather the rest of his burnt feathers to not fall to his death. In the blink of an eye, he rounded the building and appeared in the doorframe opposite the window. Just in time to catch Twice trying to escape.
Dabi caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. "Don't tell me-" He swung around. "That bastard is way too fast."
Twice was still stumbling foreward, but something was off. He had his left had pressed against the wound on his chest, but is his right, a knife with a jagged edge and sharp point gleamed in the light. One of Togas weapons.
Dabi acted without thinking. This was not part of the plan. Twice was an elimination target of the commission, it would only be a matter of time that someone came after him. But it did not need to be today. And it did not need to be Hawks. He had to get his attention fast, and he chose the only way he knew would work.
"Takami Keigo!"
Hawks froze, but so did Twice. Dabi swung around and the room was engulfed in blue flames again. Hawks managed to dodge the blast by flying up to the ceiling, but Dabi calling his name was still ringing in his ears. Twice was thrown out of the room and into the railing. He didn't move.
Hawks just stared down at Dabi in disbelief. Did he just save him, or attack him? But there was no time to further think about it, because Dabi turned around and pointed his left arm right at him.
