Hey-o! I started this story last summer (it's now January) and it was super fun. There's a ton of angst, drama and introspection, lots of humor and friendship, and a shit ton of character development. There are no villains in this, and it is all completely original content, it has nothing to do with the canon timeline. It's 200,000 words, so stick around! Enjoy~
Trigger warnings for graphic torture, child abuse and suicide. There is mild smut later, but nothing graphic at all. Don't worry, much of the story is very light hearted and fun.
-x- Keigo -x-
"This man has committed terrorist attacks, and we know his quirk is incredibly powerful, but he won't speak," Keigo's handler said, looking through the one way window at the young man chained to the ground, laying on his stomach. He was covered in sweat, his hair soaked to his forehead. It was a blinding white, but was red in some places from blood. There was blood all around him on the cement floor as well.
"So you want me to try and get answers out of him?" Keigo asked, scowling at the man. A terrorist? He'd gladly squeeze out any information from him. What kind of quirk was it that was so powerful?
"Yes. He has a blindfold on so he can't steal your quirk. He appears to be able to store quirks he sees. Your wings will be left in this room, though you can take feathers out to convince him." Keigo knew convince meant to force answers out him via torture. Keigo had been trained to ignore the sight of blood, the feeling of it soaking his feathers.
But this guy killed a lot of people. Keigo had no issue being rough with murderers. He would remove the blindfold to terrify him. Keigo could be very scary if he tried. He shucked off most of his wings but for the baby feathers and some of his primaries. They should be sharp enough to get the point across.
He walked inside, and the man flinched at hearing Keigo's boots walking over. Keigo used his foot to knock him onto his side, not enough chain space to knock him onto his back. He was biting his lip, so much so there was blood. Though his face was already covered in blood, like the rest of him. It came from his nose and his mouth. His teeth were clenched and coated in his own blood.
A few molars were on the floor around him. Keigo reached down and yanked the blindfold off, pulling his head up from the action before it hit back down on the ground. His face was soaked in tears, too, eyes bright red from crying. He looked up at Keigo with fear, and he felt no pity for a murderer. How pathetic, he was unable to deal with his consequences for his abhorrent actions.
Keigo sharped his feathers, and primed them at his neck. "What is your quirk?" He only looked like a nineteen year old, striking blue eyes rimmed with pink. And he didn't answer. Keigo impaled his arm with his feather sword, and the teen screamed. Keigo noticed he was wearing one of the extreme sensory bracelets. It made any sort of pain more agonizing than it would be without it. It was often used to speed up torture. "Answer me or the other arm is next."
"I d-didn't do anything!" he cried, eyes clenched shut tightly. Keigo stabbed his other feather into his left arm, and he screamed like he was being burnt alive. Kego hoped he was suffering like the people he hurt had.
"What is your quirk! Answer now and I won't gouge out an eye!" Keigo demanded. The teen just cried harder, insisting he hadn't done anything to warrant this. It was pathetic. He pressed a sharp feather to his eye, and the young man screamed as the feather shoved into his eye socket. Tears of blood seeped out. Keigo wasn't processing the violence, he'd learned to not be swayed by gore or blood.
He pulled the feather out, but watched as it healed over, and was back to normal. Then he had a regeneration quirk, but wasn't being affected by the quirk nullification cuffs around his wrists and ankles. Then he'd have to up the torture if he didn't have lasting damage. No wonder there were no wounds, only blood.
The nameless criminal rolled onto his stomach and tried to get away, but the cuffs stopped him, and then Keigo rained down small blades all over his back, shoulders and the backs of his thighs. He screamed at it, blood curdling screams, and started begging for someone to help him, but of course no one was there.
Keigo sliced off three fingers, which regrew. The guy threw up a bunch of blood and saliva that pooled under his face. Keigo really wasn't enjoying this, but it was necessary. "Tell me what your quirk is right now! The torture will stop if you do!" Keigo demanded. It wasn't true, he'd continue to be hurt. But giving him hope to be freed of the pain, it still wasn't enough to get him to talk.
"Just kill me!" he begged. He was in so much pain that death would be a mercy.
"Talk or I'll kill you very slowly," Keigo ordered. He put a feather blade to his throat, and very slowly applied pressure. The older teen, maybe 18 or 19, continued to cry, clenching his fists. "Make it easy for yourself. You will die if you don't talk."
"You'll just kill me anyways!" he shouted. Keigo removed the feather from his neck and stomped down on his face, hearing bones crack as he screamed again. He wouldn't talk. He was stubborn and stupid.
"How do you think the people you killed felt when they died!" He just sobbed, whimpering that he never did anything. "Pretty pathetic act! You can't even handle the consequences of your own actions!" The terrorist's face slowly healed. He was lucky. But also unlucky, since the pain would be prolonged as he wasn't going to be easy to kill.
"Hawks, that's enough for tonight." Keigo removed the feathers and kicked him in the face one more time before leaving, the young man sobbing on the floor, covered in wet blood from Keigo. When he went back into the room, he washed his feathers off in the sink that was used to get rid of blood, and then looked to his handler for approval.
"Well done," she said. He smiled inside at the praise. "Go get some food, it's dinner time." Keigo nodded and left. He needed to wash his boots off. He'd never seen a villain cry like that, it was really stupid. If he wasn't prepared to pay for his actions, why on earth did he do them in the first place? Weak fucker. Keigo had never met someone that cried while tortured.
The only thing strong about him was refusing to speak even as he was stabbed over and over. What was so bad about his quirk? They already knew he stored them, so what was he hiding? Keigo would get answers out of him no matter how rough he had to be. The only reason he wasn't affected by the crying and begging was because he knew what he'd done to warrant this treatment.
Later that night, he decided to go check on the guy, see if he was still crying or had managed to fall asleep. Nobody was there, everyone either having gone home or were asleep. He was good at making sure nobody was around with his feathers. He walked into the observation room, and turned on the light, glancing through the window to see he was curled up, just soaked in his own blood, trembling, holding his head.
Keigo decided to learn more about him and looked through the office files. He found him based on the date marked. Opening the folder, the seventeen year old read about what his situation was. Then there were photos. Of him. His name was Touya, but his surname wasn't present for some reason. In the photos was what looked like a fifteen year old boy, white hair and blue eyes, smiling. Keigo wondered what happened to him to pull him to the dark side. To become a mass murderer.
Then he learned things that made him throw up in the sink, his hands shaking. He was marked down at being barely 15, not 19. He was two years younger than Keigo. He searched through the files, and found nothing of information about any crimes. Nothing.
"I didn't do anything!" Touya had cried as Keigo tortured him. He saw on the back page that Touya had had a quirk used on him to age him up so it wasn't as hard to torture a 15 year old than a 19 year old. Then, at the bottom, it said, No crime committed. Keigo's head whipped back around at the window, hearing the child crying, muttering desperate begs for someone to save him.
Keigo hadn't cried in a long time, but he was full of shame, and self hatred. He'd tortured an innocent child. Touya had done nothing wrong but have a quirk that was deemed to powerful to be safe outside the facility. Keigo was lied to so he had an easier time torturing him. His wings curled around him as he cried quietly. What had he done?
-x-
Keigo couldn't let his handlers know that he knew the truth or they'd boot him from the case. He wanted to save Touya, but that involved another session of torture, more cries from the injured and terrified fifteen year old. Once Keigo sliced across the back of his thigh, Touya… just stopped. He stopped screaming, and Keigo assumed he'd passed out somehow.
He crouched in front of his bloody face, and saw he was awake, but his eyes were hazy. "Hey, wake up," Keigo said grabbing his hair and shaking his head back and forth. He had to keep up appearances, even if it broke his heart to do this. He wanted to be a hero, and yet here he was, brutally torturing a helpless child.
After this, Keigo planned on making it public somehow. This was inhumane, and nothing a hero should do. But here he was, doing it because he was ordered to. He followed what they said like a loyal puppy, a true pet. He trusted what they said, but he never would again. This broke any trust he had for them. They manufactured it to make Keigo fine with torture. Hiding the fact that Touya was only a kid, and the fact that he'd done nothing to warrant this. He was innocent, and absolutely helpless.
His eyes did not become aware, he just started with an empty expression at the wall. "He passed out," Keigo said.
"Then wake him up." He hid the grimace on his face as he stuck the sharp veins under Touya's fingernails. He whimpered at that, and tried to pull his hands away, his eyes shutting tightly as fat tears came from them. Keigo couldn't do this anymore. He stood up and left the room. He walked through the Commission employees and out, hurrying to the nearest bathroom to wash off his hands.
This was horrible, and it would always be in his mind. For the rest of his life, he had to know he tortured an innocent fifteen year old. He scrubbed his hands aggressively, but the blood wasn't coming off. It was in his head, looking at his bloody hands. He would fucking do something about this if it was the last thing he ever did.
That night, when Nagant came back, Keigo cornered her, and told her what had happened. She looked angry, and disappointed in Keigo, which stung because he admired her so much. "Please, save him," Keigo begged quietly. She looked at him with furrowed brows and sighed.
"I'll do what I can."
When it was midnight, the two of them went back to the control room, and it appeared more had been done to him since parts of his exposed arms were black, as if charred. He was burned, or electrocuted. Keigo felt sick, as most of that dried blood was from him. Nagant was wearing normal clothes, not her suit. She said that he was probably terrified of heroes now, and seeing her dressed as one, or god forbid he saw Keigo, was not the right move.
She snuck inside, quietly and not turning on the light because Keigo kept the switch pressed down. He could hear them with the feather he stuck on Nagant's leg. "Touya," she said softly, and pressed her hand to his arm. "Touya, my name is Kaina. I'm here to get you out." Touya tried crawling away from her, but he couldn't. The chains limited his motion too much, and he was probably scared, in complete darkness with a stranger he didn't know or could see.
She took the keys and unlocked the cuffs. Touya tried to crawl away from her, but she gently grabbed him. She felt his body and knew where to hold him from, and picked him up under his shoulders and knees.
She had placed a towel over his eyes. "I'm gonna save you, don't worry," she assured him. She walked into the control room, and helped him sit against the wall while she dressed him in a uniform of the students from the Atlas program that Keigo had graduated from a few months ago. He had just debuted as a hero. This would kill his career if it got out.
It would be ideal for Keigo to fly him away, but he was probably really scared of Keigo after what he'd done to him. He still felt nauseous as the sounds of his screams and cries of pain and fear echoed in his mind. After he was dressed and his face cleaned of blood from the sink, Nagant picked him up again, and hurried him out of the room.
Keigo followed, sending feathers in front of them to see if anyone was around. Nobody was. They made it outside, and Nagant opened the gates of the compound, a car already ready and waiting for her. She carefully put him in the backseat and clipped him in before jumping to the front, and flooring it.
That was the last time he ever saw Lady Nagant, but was at least happy she left saving someone that Keigo tortured. He went to his room, curled into a ball, and cried of shame and guilt.
-x- Touya -x-
Kaina took him to a house she called a foster home. Touya didn't want to go to a foster home, but was grateful when he was given a shower. The other foster kids saw him and were shocked by the state he was in. He was covered in blood, even if the clothes he had on were clean. His hair was caked in dry, flaky blood that was hard to wash out.
In the middle of the shower, he suddenly fell, and started to breathe quickly, curling up in a ball in the tub. The foster father hurried in, and helped him through it, soothing him and trying to talk him out of his panic, out of picturing the man over him, digging his blade into Touya's eyeball. It had all hurt so bad, worse than anything he could imagine. He'd have had life long injuries from it all if he didn't have a regeneration quirk. When he came to, he was helped to dry off and was given a clean outfit, a blue shirt and blue shorts.
"You okay, Dabi?"
"D-Dabi?" he asked in faint confusion.
"The nice woman said you had to change your name and now your name is Dabi."
"Oh… right," he whispered. "S-Sorry, you had to help me," he said in shame. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I swear I didn't do it," Dabi started to sob. The stranger hugged him, and Dabi realized he'd never been hugged by anyone but Fuyumi or his mother. He didn't know this man, but he was showing him kindness. Dabi tried not to sob, but he couldn't manage it. In the car, the effects of the aging quirk had gone. He was now fifteen again.
When he managed to go downstairs, his savior was gone. The stranger woman who was the foster mother had a packet of information. The foster father lead him to the couch and he sat down, knees shaking. He wanted to sleep but was afraid this was a mind game and he'd wake up there again. That the man with feathers would succeed in taking his eyes.
He didn't even know the face of the one that saved him, or who she was. He was grateful, at least, for her kindness. He was looking distant, and brought his knees to his chest. When one of the other foster children, all of which seemed to have severe scarring or other deformations, touched his leg he screamed at it, jumping away. At least none of his quirks came out and hurt her.
He curled into a ball, humiliated. "Sorry," he said, worried he'd scared her. If he was trouble, Endeavor would find him, or the man with the feathers. He'd been wearing what looked like a hero costume. It felt like all heroes were awful and abused him. He was so scared of getting caught again and killed this time.
"It's okay, I'm sorry I startled you," the girl said sincerely. He peeked at her over his folded arms, and she was missing an eye with severe burns across the left side of her face. He wondered what happened, but wasn't going to ask. He didn't want to talk about his - his torture, so he wouldn't be nosy. He really looked at the other three children. One was missing an arm and had a prosthetic, one wore a mask over his face, maybe hiding something from view, and the other had cuts on his neck, as if his throat was slit. They all had issues, it seemed. Dabi was the only one who didn't display his trauma.
"What's your name?"
"...I guess it's Dabi, now," he said softly. They introduced themselves but for the one with a mask. Dabi was told she was fully mute, and could only speak with sign language. Dabi couldn't read sign language. Maybe he'd learn. He looked to the foster mother, who was looking down at the packet of paper with an angry look.
She saw Dabi watching and smiled. "Well, there's a lot to do right now. Kaina-san made you some new identification documents, but she's asked for you to change your appearance to hide. As well as use a chosen quirk and only that one." He wasn't going to pick fire or Enji would maybe find him, too.
Dabi looked at his feet, and nodded. The foster father, Asahi, went out and promptly bought black hair dye. Dabi didn't need to bleach his hair as it was already snow white. He wasn't attached to it, his hair changed colors already. He had help dying it, and once it was done and out, he looked much more pale than before.
He didn't hate it, but it drastically changed his appearance. A quirk that he could keep, and one that might help him out if he was ever found again. He had no attachment to them but his regeneration quirk, that he'd somehow managed to hide from his parents, showing they didn't care about his wellbeing if they didn't even notice his wounds disappeared instantly.
Nobody noticed, and while it was a good thing, it also hurt. He hid it, but surely Fuyumi could see it? But no, she liked to ignore Dabi because he tore apart the image of the family she wanted. Well, he was gone, and would stay gone. So he decided to keep a shape shifting quirk, so he could hide if anyone was ever after him.
When he left the bathroom, the foster parents were talking with the kids about Dabi needing to not be touched. It was embarrassing, but Dabi assumed anyone touching him for the now would result in that same reaction, though he hadn't pulled away from the hug in the bathroom. So there was that. A hug from a random stranger felt more personal than anything Enji or Rei had done with him.
He drooped in the doorway, and was noticed by Mei, the foster mother, who lead him upstairs and down a hall. The floor was carpet and the walls plaster. It felt not like home, but that's what he'd wanted when he ran away. Honestly, he didn't know what he would do after getting far away. How would he live on his own? He was too young to just work for a living.
But he sure as hell didn't expect to get kidnapped and tortured about his quirk. And blamed for some sort of crime he didn't commit. While he as in there, time was meaningless and he started to think maybe he did commit those crimes but didn't remember. He doubted his sanity, but now, when he wasn't chained to the floor and covered in his own blood, he knew he'd done nothing wrong other than run away.
His new bedroom had a mattress, not a futon mat, a desk, a few dressers and a bookshelf that was empty. It had more character than his bedroom ever had, forced to not have anything on the walls, and all books and nicknacks were put into a trunk in the closet so as not to make his room look immature. It was the same deal for the other three, so it really had nothing to do with age.
Dabi sat on the bed, looking around and out the window. It showed the backyard, which was a lawn and a deck with some chairs on it. No koi pond, nothing fancy. He didn't want to be reminded of his old "home". He was never going back. Endeavor was too well known, and Dabi would be found easily. Enji probably wouldn't even fight for him, he'd just be furious Dabi had been hiding something as huge as his actual quirk capabilities.
Mei sat in the desk chair and turned towards Dabi. "We won't tell anyone about what happened if you don't want us to. Or to talk about you to anyone, and your quirk will stay a secret." Dabi nodded, feeling kind of numb. "We're happy to have you and will help you through all of the consequences of the way you were treated," she said in a sincere voice.
Dabi furrowed his brows. "Why? The people… the people that took me were leaders. I - I think," he murmured. "There was a hero there that… did some stuff."
"We know, Kaina told us. She said he organized the escape for you, but asked me to not say so. It involves you, so I will be honest," Mei said. Dabi's blue eyes widened a bit. "It doesn't excuse whatever he did, and you don't need to forgive him, ever, if you don't want to."
Dabi shook his head. He wouldn't forgive him, just like he wouldn't forgive Endeavor. Heroes were truly trash. He had no idea who the guy who stabbed him was, didn't know his name or recognize his face. He had a lot of feather blades, but Dabi had seen no wings or their source. His gold eyes as he glared down at Dabi with an angry look on his face as he stomped on the vulnerable, innocent kid's face, was something he would never forget.
Dabi slumped his shoulders and laid on his side, grabbing the pillow and holding it to his chest. It had been three days in that place. The longest three days in his life, and the longest he'd probably ever have. Dabi's stomach rumbled, and he realized he hadn't had any food in three days.
Mei offered to bring him some left overs since dinner already passed. "I can help," Dabi said, not wanting to mooch off of them for however long he was there. He was glad when Mei accepted his help. Being turned away would have been embarrassing. He was weak on his legs from hunger and exhaustion, but could still pour tea and put it out on the table.
The three kids and two adults took some tea while Dabi ate. It tasted like ash, but he knew it was just him. The food didn't actually taste like ash, since it smelled as chicken and rice. He finished the whole serving, and wordlessly walked upstairs, his head down. He somehow fell asleep, curled around the pillow under blankets.
He had turned off his super sense quirk, so he could be at peace in the quiet. There was a color changing night light in the corner, which he stared at until he was so exhausted the light started to warp and his eyes blur. Finally, Dabi reluctantly slid his eyes shut and fell asleep.
He woke up ten minutes later crying into the pillow, but refusing to scream or make a fuss and seem weak. It was already bad enough, he didn't need to add night terrors to his list of pathetic behaviors. He kep visualizing the people demanding he answer them, beating him, electrocuting him. And the "hero" stabbing him over and over and over. He pressed his palm to his eye and cried, biting his lip so it bled, only to heal over. He managed to sleep again, and no more nightmares, which was appreciated.
When he woke up, he smelled food, and saw a plate with breakfast on it on the bedside table. He wasn't upset that she came into the room while he was asleep. It wasn't actually his bedroom, after all. He gladly ate it, thankful it didn't taste like ash. He looked out at the backyard, watching rain drizzle down.
It was summer break, so he wasn't missing any school. He wondered if he'd ever have friends again. He was fucked up, he had been kidnapped and tortured. Was he going to be an emotional mess from now on? Would kids make fun of him? Would teachers think he was a handful?
Once upon a time, he'd told his teacher that he was being beaten at home, when he was in first grade, and still had trust in adults. But she didn't believe him because Endeavor was a hero, and couldn't possibly hurt his own child. She said nothing to nobody, and Dabi's trust in adults to help him and the rest of his family disintegrated. He didn't trust adults at all.
Tou- Dabi took the dish down and washed it in the sink. He found everyone in their rooms, all of them having their own bedroom, and saw the two adults were in the living room. He headed back up the stairs without a word to them. He'd lower his head and keep his mouth shut so they had no reason to carry on Enji's will and beat him, even if they knew he could regenerate.
These two strangers knew far more about Dabi than his biological parents ever had, and that was kind of pathetic. Even if he was the one to not say anything… he should have been noticed. Maybe he was hoping some day it would happen, even as he hid behind the guise of not being good at his fire quirk. The only quirk that made sense other than ice. But he hadn't wanted to steal Fuyumi and Natsuo's potential quirk.
Besides, Rei had been shit at using her own quirk, maybe Dabi's would have been shit as well. Enji married her for a reason, she had what could have been a strong quirk. But it was a waste on her. He didn't miss any of them. Not even Natsuo. That life was over, he was not Touya - he was not the same. He wouldn't be the big brother, the responsible one. Looking in the mirror on the closet door across from him, he looked at his perfectly fine face. It didn't reflect who he was. He was a broken mess, might as well look like it.
He had a new phone, in a box, unopened, left on the dresser. He opened it and set it up, going to the wifi and looking for any inspiration for his new face. Something to reflect him. The kids here were mutilated, they didn't get to hide. Everyone knew they went through shit. Dabi didn't want to be the only one to look flawless after his trouble.
Maybe looking at a damaged face would give him reprieve, and remind him he was free from that, and also warn him not to get close to others. Perhaps his PTSD would make more sense if he was deformed in some way. And the government people who took him, that "hero" wouldn't recognize him.
Yeah, his name was gone. Dabi replaced it. His old face could be gone. A new one to replace it.
-x- Keigo -x-
Before anyone found out about Touya being snuck out and brought somewhere even Keigo didn't know, he gathered all the paperwork and footage of what had been done to Touya, his records of what he hadn't done, and with explicit details about what Keigo had done himself. He could never be a hero in his heart if he hid this from the world. Touya deserved justice.
Keigo deserved justice for what he had been made to do. For causing that kid lifelong issues because he followed everything his handler said as if he knew it was true. He would be more cautious from now on. So he gathered the backpack of proof, he went to his room and brought out a feather and slowly, carefully, carved the tracker out of his arm.
Once it was left, a bloody mess on his white sheets, he put on some normal clothes, exercise outfit, and his jacket. He refused to wear his bloody boots, so he put on his running shoes. He went to his window and opened it, sending his feathers out before him so he could fit through the small space. He'd only snuck out once before and it ended up in being drowned over and over for three hours.
He was screwed up to the core, and realized that he'd always been in a cage. He went from one to another, willingly and didn't see anything was wrong until he hurt that kid. Until he was lied to to get him to do what they wanted. The Commission had probably been lying to him his whole life. Telling him things he wanted to hear, perhaps.
They never did stop the Atlas program, maybe he can save those kids by shutting it down. He didn't know how the country would react to knowing what the Commission had done, both to Keigo and all those kids who were striving to be copies of "Hawks".
Who was Hawks? He followed orders. He liked to eat. He wanted to be a hero while knowing heroes don't kill just because they're told to.
Who was he? Just a fuck up who had no hope for his dream. He gathered his feathers and flew straight upwards and into the clouds before heading north to Tokyo to drop off everything he'd collected at the most major, reputable news station. He had a speech ready and everything. He had to act quickly, as fast as possible, to get the news out.
He pumped his wings harder, hoping Kaina got Touya somewhere safe, where he could live in peace. Keigo would never ask, as he was his monster. Maybe not the only one, but he was a big one. Keigo hoped he found his family again, safely, and was protected. If Nagant was smart, she'd have had Touya change his name already.
Keigo was pretty sure she had, but didn't share the name with him because of what he'd done, but Nagant had done awful things under the Commission as well. It would do good for her to testify with him, but it was her choice. She'd done far worse things than Keigo, and since she was older, in her thirties, she couldn't be seen as so young and impressionable where Keigo was not even 18 yet. He was still a kid, too, in age but not mind.
He'd grown up long ago. There was no other option, after all. He wasn't allowed hobbies or friends or dreams other than his want to be a good hero. He was giving that up to do justice. For everyone the Commission hurt, for himself, and most of all, for Touya. He didn't plan on giving details as to who Touya was, only that he was a child with a strong quirk. That was it. Not that he really knew anything else about him. Didn't know his history before being kidnapped.
Was his family looking for him? Keigo didn't know and didn't plan on following up. He made it there within an hour, flying through some rain but not much, and landed in front of the news station. It was open, since there were stories ran in the middle of the night. He walked inside, taking the backpack off and holding it to his chest.
This was it. There was no going back from this. It might throw the hero world into chaos. He gripped the backpack harder, biting his lip. No, he had to do this because it was what was right, and he hadn't been doing just that, even after debuting as a hero so recently. People had their eyes on him, planning on him to sky rocket. But that was gone once his sponsor was out of the game.
If this didn't catch on, who knows how long he'd be thrown in jail? But without his tracker, there was nothing stoping him from flying out of the country. He would be true and honest, and figure out what the hell he was. Who he was, what kind of person. He had no idea. Hawks wasn't a real person, it was a persona he'd been wearing for nine years.
"Can we help you?" a receptionist asked. Keigo was wearing what looked like pajamas. He was extremely recognizable, even as a newbie to the public.
"I have the story of a lifetime and I'd like to share it with you," the seventeen year old said, scared of what he was doing and the repercussions. The journalist had a gleam in her eyes and hurried him inside. She called over other head journalists for the channel and the news anchors on duty.
He took out the photos, which included the bloody screenshot lump of Touya, with blood all over the floor. Then Keigo had taken a photo of the stain of blood left over. Everything was on a flash drive, and he handed it to them. "The HPSC ordered me to torture a child. I want to tell the country what kinds of people they are with my own witness testimony. I need it done now so they don't try and somehow discredit me," he said, hands clenched shut but face impassive. "Will you be the news outlet that breaks it for me?"
"Yes," they all said, extremely seriously. He was put in a nicer shirt with cuts in the back and his hair was fixed up a bit since it was a mess from flying in the rain. He sat in the chair, not live, thankfully. He asked them for that in case he needed to make a second one. He didn't want to fumble this, and they agreed.
The video was played even though Keigo didn't ever need to see it from an outsider's perspective. He was trained in public speaking, even if he hadn't had much real life experience for it. No scandals had come yet. And nothing probably would have been as huge as this one. He took a breath, getting some encouraging looks from the people behind the camera, as he was still just a teenager.
"My name is Hawks, but my original name was Takami Keigo. I was bought from my mother by the Hero Public Safety Commission when I was eight years old. From that time until earlier this year, I was trained specifically from them on the guise that they would make me a great hero. There was a program instituted there, called the Atlas program, which took children with promising quirks and trained them.
"I thought I was going to be a hero, but I was just a tool. They taught me how to be a spy, an assassin, and a liar. I was taught how to manipulate people when I speak to them. I learned how to use my quirk from them, but what I wanted my wings to be used for was rescuing. Instead, I used them to carve people up.
"They heavily abused me and the other children still in the program. Punishments for failure were usually were being drowned, as physical punishment for me looked bad. I was to look like the perfect hero." He pulled off his gloves, and showed the black fingertips, damaged from being filed down years ago. "I used to have other heteromorphic qualities. Behavioral and physical.
"They filed my teeth and talons down because they did not fit the part they wanted me to play. They thought I should act as normal as possible, and that people would like me more if only my wings were known.
"The things that truly made me break out of the trance of being a good hero was something that happened two days ago. I was brought to a room where a young man, looking nineteen, was being tortured. I was told that he was a terrorist, and tasked to try and get answers out of him about his quirk.
"He was brutally tortured. A device was clipped onto his wrist that amplified pain. I used my feather blades to continuously stab him. He was healed of his wounds, but was terrified of me and those who tortured him. As he should be. Because he wasn't a terrorist, and he wasn't an adult.
"I unknowingly tortured an innocent fifteen year old boy. He has since been relocated safely. They aged him up somehow so I didn't know it was just a kid younger than me. I know this is probably the end of my hero career, but I wanted to do justice. For the boy I tortured, for the kids still in the program, and for myself.
"My goal isn't to stir up trouble, or fill the country with outrage, I just want justice, and that won't be happening from inside the Commission itself." He bowed his head. "I am sorry for all I've done and allowed to be done. And I am so sorry, if you're watching this, to the boy I hurt. I am not asking for forgiveness from anyone.
"Thank you for your time," he finished with a sad look. The news anchor was silent in shock, either real of practiced. "I have proof of this all."
The footage of Keigo stabbing Touya was shown, but Touya's face was blurred by the news station. You could hear his screams, and Keigo demanding to know the power he had, and accusing him of killing people as he screamed that he didn't do anything. There was also footage of the children in the Atlas program.
He snuck photos of his injuries out, his own medical records to prove that he was given many surgeries to look the part. He had gotten everything he could, and avoided Nagant completely. She wasn't in the story at all.
Finally, he was asked questions. "What had you done to make the Commission interested in you?"
"When I was eight, I was homeless with my mother. I ended up rescuing many people from a car accident. They found me shortly after and offered my mom a comfortable life to take me. They told me I would be a hero, that they'd raise me to be a good one. They changed my legal name to 'Hawks' instead of Takami Keigo, because my father was a criminal, and having a name would give me a sense of self. I was to be the perfect hero. I don't even know anything about myself," he said wistfully. "Maybe that will change, I'm not sure."
"How high up the chain of command has the corruption run?"
"All the way up. I worked directly under the president. She wasn't the one to give me the punishments, but she was in charge and knew everything. She gave the orders that would be passed down to me to torture him," Keigo answered.
"What do you plan to do now, Hawks?" Keigo asked him to call him by his name. Hawks was dead after today. The news anchor nodded, and more softly said, "What do you plan to do now, Takami Keigo?"
Keigo bit his lip. "I'm not sure. The only place to live I ever had was the HPSC building. Maybe I can somehow get a normal job and work for myself."
"If you were allowed, would you ever want to be a hero again?"
Keigo licked his lips, thinking about what to say before nodding. "I've always wanted to be a hero. I worry that I have learned behavior that needs to be unlearned. I would like a second chance someday, after I'm a better person and have grown out of my trained tendencies. I have a lot of soul searching to do. I'm young, so hopefully I can start over."
"You heard it here first, folks. Thank you, Takami-kun." Keigo nodded, and the showing stopped. He wanted to cry, and nobody was there to punish him, so tears freely came down his cheeks. He'd just ruined his life.
