Chapter 5

"Goodbye Hawks… I don't care if you live or die," he added for good measure for the people on the other end of the bug. Touya felt numb. He could still hear the fighting in the background, the screams and shouts of the heroes going against the villains, but the figure on the floor in front of him had gone silent.

He had done his part in the big plan to free him from the chains of the Commission. This had been a set-up, a consensual plan, but still…

His hand was shaking again. He had felt it, the flames eating away at the flesh, the burning feathers, the smell… and the heat. The heat he had turned up and up until he hadn't been able to control it anymore. His arms were still burning, that weird sensation of feeling and not-feeling which was a product of ongoing nerve damage.

"Hawks!" The shout broke Dabi out of his thoughts just before a black figure slammed into him, throwing him backwards and fanning out the rest of the flame. The bird boy and his shadow had hurled themselves over the railing, apparently to save their mentor. Hawks had told him about his internship boy a few months back and how he had taught him to fly. It seemed like he puts that knowledge to good use now.

The boy threw himself in front of Dabi, while the shadow figure loomed over Hawks, draping a black jacket over his still form.

"Fumikage, this looks bad…"

The boy was standing in front of Hawks like a shield. "Don't say it."

"Hawks back is…gone. His wings have…burned."

Dabi released a breath. It had worked. He hadn't been so sure until now.

"You even dragged out a kid?" He hadn't really planned for this part, but Dabi knew he had to keep talking. Hawks had told him about the commission recruiting the hero courses, and Dabi had seen the kids line up at the edge of the forest. Raising children to fight your wars… It made him think of his father, and his fingers twitched again. He and his brother had to be somewhere out there, too.

"Look at this, kid. Hawks killed him, you know?" Dabi's eyes wandered to the body of Twice still laying in a bloody heap at the other side of the railing. "What are you even protecting? Those pros play dirtier than guys like me."

The boy's eyes flicked over to his shadow, worry clearly visible on his features. This was a low blow, and Dabi knew it. But keeping Hawks away from the commission was one thing. It would be easier if he had a reputation among the heroes, too. And it wouldn't hurt to give the kid a morals check.

The ground shook with an explosion coming from somewhere downstairs and Mount Lady nearly falling over onto the roof. If the PLF wasn't careful, they would level the whole building with them still in it. He had to get them away from here. But the bird boy wasn't moving, only staring at him.

"…Toko…yami." Hawks voice was a pained whisper. He was barely conscious, blood dripping out of the burns on his back, heavy-lidded eyes searching for his student.

"I am only concerned for my teacher." The bird boy, Tokoyami, cradled him in his arms while still staring at Dabi. The ground shook again.

Goddammit.

"Think for yourself!" With a scream, he rose his right hand and sent a wall of flames towards the two. He made sure to aim just a little off and used his non-dominant hand, but for every hero it must have looked like he tried to barbeque them right on the spot.

The bird dodged, but not fast enough and the flames grazed them while he pressed Hawks down to the floor. Dabi bit the inside of his cheek. Why did he throw them against the wall in that narrow corridor, and not away, off the balcony? They really needed to up their teaching at that ridiculous hero school.

His strength started to waver. He had made sure that the last flames were weaker, but the tremor in his left hand was returning, and he knew there wasn't much time left. But he needed to stall, before someone else came to finish the job. "Think about it, you Barbequed Birds…" Why didn't they move?! "Who do you think really needs rescuing?" This was it. He couldn't be more obvious for the bird brain to move!

"…go." Hawks' voice was only a whisper, but it apparently worked to get the boy out of his shock and into action.

"Go, Dark Shadow!" The shadow figure rose up and shot towards him, now strangely smaller than just moments before. Dabi dodged and reflexively threw flames out of his right hand, but the boy was hurled into the air by a shadow claw and off the balcony, still cradling Hawks in his arms.

"Fumikage!" There was a scream, and instead of away, the two were thrown back against the balcony like a swing, this time one floor below. Dabi couldn't see what was happening, but he could hear the sickening thump of a body hitting concrete floor.

"Hawks! Hawks!" The voice of the boy was full of panic, and it took everything Dabi had to not climb down to check if they were okay. That little stunt had not been planned.

There was a rumbling again, and the giant Lady hurled a concrete beam across the yard, narrowly missing the balcony on the other side. The rumbling grew stronger, vibrating through the floor, and Dabi noticed that it came from somewhere below them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the White-Haired asshole freezing the ground and shooting up a giant iceberg in their direction. The ice was forming way too fast, and there was no way either of them could jump out of the way before freezing or being crushed by the mass of ice. He had one option.

"I thought something like this might happen. So I saved up by making the last two shots weak!" He gathered his remaining fire power and jumped towards the lower balcony level with the boy and Hawks still on it. With both arms extended, he could feel the heat radiating from his palms. Too slow. The ice was shooting up towards them. The bird boy turned, and his eyes grew wide. Be it because of him, or because of the giant icicle threatening to turn them into frozen mush, he'd never know. Faster. He had to be faster. The heat turned up to an almost unbearable degree. He felt a lightning pain shooting up his arms, but he didn't care.

The top of the Ice began to melt, just before it slammed into the balcony with a sickening crunch.

"Dark Shadow!" The kid and his shadow took off again just in time, when the ice hit Dabi square in the chest and he was thrown aside. But his little stunt had worked: the tip was melted enough, so it hadn't pierced the wood and the balcony was still standing, albeit barely. And nobody had ended up as an icicle.

Geten, however, hadn't just stopped at a little iceberg.

"Ow… That Ice bastard really let loose." Dabi scrambled to his feet, only to see the entirety of the villa engulfed in ice. The construct was several meters higher than the original building, and Geten was standing on top of it, giving a motivational speech or whatever.

Dabi looked up and saw a dark figure flying away towards the tree line. They had made it.

He led out a breath. His hands were still shaking.