A/N: Sorry for the delay on this one! Note: Overhaul is not in this chapter with Nagant, TBH I didn't want to bog down the story with him in it since it didn't add much to my story, and this chapter is already over 9k words. So, sorry if that bothers some of you!
I hope you enjoy!
Chapter 57
Outside of Kyoto city limits - 5 Years Ago
Lady Nagant holds her breath as she looks down the scope of her rifle arm. She usually holds her breath when she's lining up her shot, and has trained her body to go without air for 11 minutes and 43 seconds to ensure the perfect hit. But she holds her breath this time for another reason; she doesn't want him to hear her breathing.
If he were close enough to her, his fierce wings would pick up the sound of her heart beating in her chest, but she's made it a point to keep her distance from him. She's far enough so that she's sure he can't hear her, but still close enough to make the shot.
Ever since Lady Nagant took the life of the President of the Hero Public Safety Commission, they sent their well-trained dogs after her. She wasn't opposed to killing the kids she grew up with since they were so blind and eager to turn her in, but she hadn't expected Keigo to be among those so willing to betray her. Maybe she was foolish into thinking there was something stronger between them because she was his mentor, and because he valued her. But it's clear now that none of it matters because like the rest of their trained hounds, Keigo will blindly follow their orders.
In the end, she will not let her sentiment and their past distract her from the reality she's faced with. If Keigo is do willing to stand on his hind legs for praise like their good little dog, the she will gladly put him down with the rest.
"How is this going to pan out, Nagant?" his voice comes from all directions as it echoes against the dilapidated walls of the warehouse that he's lured her to.
Hawks has been instructed to take her down quietly and out of the public's eye. Being forced into close quarters doesn't do his fighting style any favors, but it also does the same for her. With both excelling at far reaching attacks, this showdown will come to whoever can move the fastest; and Hawks has never been one to move slowly.
Nagant doesn't answer his question, knowing well enough that the vibrations of her voice will give off her location.
She scans the area with her rifle, searching for any indicator that he's lurking around. She lifts her fingertips to a few strands of hair that fall between her eyes. She tangles her digits into the hair, twirling the pieces around until she pulls out a sizeable amount. She rolls the hair into a large bullet and loads it into the palm of her hand.
She curses herself at the current state of her hair, as the short bob barely reaches her cheeks now. After mowing through countless commission operatives and running from Hawks for three days, there isn't much left of her hair. She needs to allow herself time to regenerate her hair, but Hawks has been relentless in his pursuit of her. Where he can reuse undamaged wings to keep the fight going, unless she goes and retrieves the bullets on her own, it's a onetime use for her.
Her lavender eyes catch a disturbance is the dust-covered floor of the warehouse. There's a ring of dirt around the cleared off ground, with no footprints around it. It looks as though someone swept the ground in a circle, but Nagant can see it for what it is; a landing spot.
She stiffens her shoulders, seeing the pile of boxes next to the stop. Moving the barrel of her gun towards the boxes, she points to where his head should be. Without hesitation, without fear of how fatal this shot will be if her assumption is correct, she pulls the trigger.
The groan that answers her shot is louder than she expected and she ignores the feeling of relief that the blow was nonfatal bubbling up in her chest to fire again.
"Fuck," Hawks groans under his breath as he clasps onto his clipped shoulder when another shot grazes his temple near his left ear. He has no choice but to flee as she pulls at her hair to produce another bullet.
His heart races as he lifts himself from the tower of boxes that he was hiding behind. He quickly sends a flurry of fierce wings in the location that force Nagant to lift herself from her sitting position and flee. His wings cut through her hair and slice open her cheekbone to draw blood.
Hawks flaps his wings, lifting into the sky and soaring above her. He doesn't have much room to fly in the industrial building he's strategically lured them in, but there is still plenty of room for him to move.
He divebombs down on her, crashing his body onto hers as he tackles her to the ground. She grunts as her head hits the cement floor, making her vision blur momentarily while he lifts himself onto her body and pins her to the ground.
Hawks takes this advantage to press a hardened feather to her throat, threatening to cut between her clavicle bones. A sneer wrinkles his nose as he grits his teeth, holding the blade in both his trembling hands, eyes shaking in his sockets. "Turn yourself in! Please!" his voice scratches at his cords while he begs to her.
"Do it," she stares him down with widened eyes. He shakes his head at her request and she growls at him, "Do it, you coward!" she roars.
"You don't have to—" Hawks doesn't even have a moment to beseech her, because she reaches for his red feathers, tearing out a fierce wing and stabbing him in the leg with it.
Hawks shouts out in pain as he slackens his body on top of hers. She moves quicker than him, grabbing the feather blade from his hand and tossing it out of his reach, then lifts her head to smash it into his nose. She ignores the sound of the crunch, or his cries of pain to shove him off of her and flee.
She reaches behind her as she runs from him, pointing her gun at him and firing another shot, hitting him in his wings without having to look back.
Hawks removes the damaged wings from his cache and turns to find her, but she's disappeared once more. He closes his eyes, focusing his breathing to listen for any noise coming from her. He can hear the radical beating of her heart as he zero ins on her location.
"You're a shit shot!" he calls out to her in a taunt, no longer worrying about hiding from her, and wanting to force her out. "You clearly knew I was hanging behind those boxes," he says as his eyes search for her in the darkened building. "I know more than anyone that you can curve a bullet, so why didn't you get your better shot?" he questions her as blood from his nose trickles down to his lips. He smiles as the beating of her heart increases at his words. "Could it have been sentiment tripping you up?"
The response of her pounding heart answers his question, but her voice finally calls of from the shadows. "Maybe I enjoy having fun with ya."
Hawks shakes his head, "You're not one to play with your food," he says knowing exactly why she hasn't landed a shot on him. He's seen her in action; she was his mentor and taught him everything that he knows. Every single able-bodied hero that was sent to her was killed within seconds of their altercation with her. But she's allowed this skirmish to drag on for three days. He knows that she's had countless opportunities to kill him, but has refused to take every one of them.
"Maybe it's you that's the coward," he tells her as he stands at the center of the warehouse. He lifts his arms out, extending his wings to present himself before her. "Here I am, Nagant. Take your shot then."
Nagant curls her lips into her mouth as she bites down painfully on her cheeks. She knows that Hawks isn't stupid, and it was a matter of time before he figured out that she wouldn't be able to actually kill him. But she was hoping that with her hits that were just close enough, that maybe he wouldn't have questioned her.
"Where's the fun in that?" she calls out to him, tugging on her hair to craft another bullet. Her voice cracks and Hawks can hear the strain in it—feel the painful thumping of her heart.
"Come with me, Nagant," he asks her. "We can settle this."
"That bastard president is going to have me disposed of like he did everyone else who opposed him."
"You killed him," he reminds her with a flat tone. "I've been given new orders by his successor to bring you in alive. The senseless violence can end here."
Nagant scoffs, shaking her head as she slides down to her knees. She lifts her rifle to her eyes, not needing to aim much since he's presented himself before her. She looks down the scope of her gun, watching the soft features of Hawks' face. A small smile reaches his lips, and she feels a tugging in her chest that makes her nauseous.
"You've always been an optimist at heart, Keigo," she says under her breath, but knows that he can hear her with his wings.
"Yeah," he says with a sigh, smile fading as his eyes reach the ground.
Her eyes widen at his fallen features, heart racing wildly in her chest as it begs her body to move quickly, but her vision blackens when the bag is forced over her head. She begins thrashing against various arms that pin her down to the ground. She curses and screams and fights the men that hold her down, hating Hawks for distracting her like that while lackeys from the Commission gang up on her.
"You're a fucking coward, Keigo!" she yells through the fabric of the bag. "A fucking dog doing their tricks!" she struggles as she hears the clicking of heels approaching her. "Whatever lies they told you about making the world a better place is all bullshit! They are just going to use you as their weapon! You'll never be the hero that you want to be working for them! You're just a bastard like the rest of them!"
"Please resist fighting back, Kaina," the voice of the newly appointed president speaks up as she approaches the scene.
Nagant smiles behind the bag on her head at the voice that calls out to her. "So, you're the old man's replacement? Of course you clawed your way into his position before the body's even cold."
"I promised Keigo that I would take you alive. Please trust that I am not my predecessor," Nagant rolls her eyes even though the president cannot see. "But believe me when I say," she begins as she kneels to her level to whisper into the girl's ear. "You will never see the light of day again."
Five Years Later – Day 90
Lady Nagant lies in the small cell she's been confined in since that day, curled into herself to battle for warmth against the cold and humid room. The sound of a single water drop hitting the puddle collected on the floor has become her personal torture for the past few hours this night.
It must be raining outside.
She believed at first that the sound would act as a reprieve from the deranged cries of her cell mates, but the continuous tapping is starting to drive her into a mania if it doesn't stop soon. She tried to muffle the sound by placing some bedding on the ground, but the sound of wet sloshing fabric was arguably just as infuriating.
Just as Nagant feels herself slipping into the lightest of sleeps, a deafening explosion from down the hall has her jumping from her cot and standing to attention. She quickly heads to the door of her cell to catch a glimpse of what must be going on when she almost falls as the door in front of her begins opening.
Her lavender eyes widen as she takes a step back into her cell, allowing the metal door to scrape on the floor with the most skin crawling screech that sends shivers down her spine. She's never seen this door open since the moment it was shut on her.
A high-ranking villain like herself, she's been placed in section B-10 of the prison with the rest of those deemed a major threat to society. She was never to leave the room that she was locked away in. Her food was given to her in a slot through her door, her shower was a faucet in the corner of her room next to her tiny toilet and a cot with plywood for a bed. She had a hole in the wall the size of a sheet of paper acting as a window just out of reach, but light never seems to enter the room with it, and it's perfectly placed so that no matter where in the room she is, she can never see the sky.
The sounds of hollering and howling cries brings her back to reality as she throws her head back to the door to see the other inmates running out of their cells in a celebratory fashion. Nagant walks carefully to the doorway of her cell, waiting for the shoe to drop and it to be revealed that this was all a test with some sort of reprimanding to happen to those who chose to leave. But what do the staff of Tartarus have to gain with such a drill? It's clear that this isn't some test, as the villains around her begin using their Quirks to propel them closer towards freedom.
She knows that she needs to make her move now; it'll only be a matter of time before the staff begin wrangling up the stragglers and returning them to their cells. Her only hope of escaping is if she leaves now.
She wills her legs to carry her out of her cell, hearing the sirens ringing throughout the hallways over the cries of her peers. She hears a hissing sound coming from the air vents above her, and she quickly realizes that they are trying to put them down before they can make it out of here and do any further damage than they already have.
She holds her breath, not allowing herself a moment to inhale the toxic gas. She follows a flock of villains rushing through the hallways blindly trying to find an exit since none of them have been out of the cells. She hears commands coming from the front of the flock as prison staff have created a blockade with guns pointed directly at them. They've already tried smoking out any stragglers, now they are focusing their efforts on gunning down anyone who has made it this far.
Nagant curses under her breath, knowing that even with her Quirk readily available now, she still won't be able to shoot them all. She could easily curve the bullet and kill the entire row of guards kneeling before her, but the second row will have her gunned down before she can make the next shot.
Before she can think much of it, a bald man steps in front of her, quickly releasing dozens of blades from his mouth as he pierces through not only the bodies of the guards, but his fellow jailed peers as well. Nagant takes a step back from the man when she hears him mumbling about flesh and decides to make her way down another tunnel and put some distance between her and the crazed villain.
She notices that the alarms have died down, and no other security systems have kicked in since the toxic gas was released. With everyone being able to freely use their Quirks, there must have been some sort of electromagnetic wave that destroyed the communicators.
The group that Nagant runs with finally reach an outer gate that has crumbled into heavy boulders of debris. She runs past the barricade and when she does, she's hit by the crisp night air.
Nagant almost chokes on the desperate intake of air as she gasps in its freshness. She feels a burning in her lungs as if she were running in the cold for hours. She's almost brought to tears at the feeling as she lifts her head to the sky, allowing the droplets of water to fall onto her face. She smiles wildly, exhaling a scoff of exhilaration at the enlightening feeling of being free.
She almost didn't notice the fires raging around her, or the other deadly criminals that congregate in the quarter, wondering what their next move is to get off this island.
"Friends, if you want to leave, all you need do is follow me," the voice brings her back to the present as she looks up onto the scaffolding to see a white-haired shirtless man with a blackened hand clutching onto his face. Nagant doesn't recognize the man standing before her until another man joins him on the balcony. "Yes, I want you to stand by my side. In the era of chaos on the horizon, a more perfect demon lord will be born. You will all bear witness to the story of how I become the most feared villain in the world."
She tightens her jaw at this as the faceless man joins the white-haired man on the balcony. Something about him unsettles her, and maybe it's the side of her that was a hero that wanted to help people. She shakes her head as she's still getting caught up on bullshit sentiment, but even after all these years, villainy is still not something she can run blindly towards.
"Well, I'll be damned," a massive blonde covered in exposed muscle fibers says under his breath next to her. "Shigaraki and All For One have done it!" he muses.
She looks away from the prisoner and back to the two on the scaffolding. All For One. She had heard stories about him growing up. He was a boogeyman—a cautionary tale to small children to convince them to be home by curfew. "Better be home before dark or All For One will snatch up your Quirk," they would say.
She looks at the faceless man once more as her heart begins pounding in her chest. This can't be him, can it? Can the legend be true? Whether or not she wants to find out, she doesn't really have a choice. If this is her only way off of this island that she's been cast away to, then so be it.
"Let this be the inception of a new era within the super human society!" All For One announces to the newly freed villains. "Too long have you all been cast aside, held down, or discriminated against by a society built on a fractured plane! Too long have those we called 'heroes' abused their power on the downtrodden! Today, we regain our hand! Today we show those who held the reigns that it is we who are in charge! No longer will we sit by and watch the hypocritical society they built benefit the corrupt. Go wild, my friends! Release those who are your kin and show the world it is we who hold the power!"
His speech is returned with wild praise and hollering that deafens the air. Soon, hordes of villains begin storming the area as they lift the gates of the bridge that connected Tartarus to the mainland.
Nagant stands there for a moment, eyes fixated on the wreckage around her as orange flames paint the night sky. A part of her heart thumps painfully in her chest at the chaos surrounding her. Maybe it is whatever part of her childhood dream of being a hero crying out to her that hates seeing this disarray, but she doesn't have time to focus on it for too long as the faceless phantom All For One approaches her with a towering intimidation.
"Ah Kaina Tsutsumi, a former pro hero and loyal dog of the Hero Public Safety Commission. What an honor it is to have you here to witness the downfall of the hero society you fought behind."
"All For One," Nagant acknowledges him. "I always thought you were nothing but a story, even I was scared of you when I was younger."
"There is nothing to fear from me, lovely girl, I am nothing more than a harbinger of balance."
"Harbinger of balance, yet you call yourself the demon lord?" she questions skeptically.
"I only wish to bring back the power of free Quirk usage to those who were imprisoned by the constraints of our modern society."
"Well, good luck with that," she returns in a dejected tone, uncaring of his grand master plot.
"Though there is a place for you in this new world I aim to create, should you assist me, I can promise you'll be rewarded handsomely for your services."
"You just told everyone to go wild, why do I have special homework to enjoy this society of yours?"
"You know far more than anyone else the inner workings of the hero society and their clandestine hypocrisy. You have seen firsthand the lengths the puppeteers behind the curtains will go to keep the public under their boot. How many times did you bloody your hands for their malicious means?"
"Yeah, they were real pieces of shit, trust me, when you stop yapping my ear off I'm heading outta this place and putting a hole right in between a lot of people's eyes."
"Though even someone as talented as yourself may find it difficult to infiltrate the stronghold they've cowered behind. So, might I offer an alternative?"
Nagant sighs, not really knowing what her plan is seeing as how this has all happened rather quickly and unexpectedly. She nods her head, shrugging uninterestedly and motions him to offer up his solution.
The eerie smile of the faceless man creeps up his damaged skin at her willingness. "There is a very special boy being guarded by the heroes that I would like you to bring to me. It's imperative that you bring him to me alive. I imagine his sentiment will drive him out of the barricades of UA, but he's still adept enough to evade the everyday villain. Not to mention he has the aid of heroes protecting him. Bring him to me, and I would hand you the keys to your vengeance."
"That's it?" she asks him, waiting for some kind of catch. "I just gotta bring you some kid?"
"That is all," he confirms to her. "Bring him to me alive, and you will be free of any other obligation. I will even have one of my associates assist you with anything you may need when the time comes."
"Yeah, alright, sounds easy enough."
"I do suggest you wait until it rains a bit more, he has a smokescreen Quirk that might prove difficult to work around with yours, but will be handicapped by the rain. So, wait as long as you need, should it be weeks or more, the rain will prove to be at your advantage. With the rain, fires die down, and birds stay in their nests," he smiles wickedly, knowing it is the perfect condition to trap the young boy as both Endeavor and Hawks are affected by the rain.
Nagant catches the subtle callback to Hawks and finds herself clenching her jaw, itching to get a rematch to that showdown. "Yeah," she quickly responds. "You've got a deal."
He extends out his hand to her as a glowing light emanates from his palm. "Then allow me this deposit for your services," and with that, she takes his hand to seal the deal.
Present Day – Day 178
A memory plays out in Hawks' mind as he looks out the windows of UA and onto the dilapidated city. His mind has been so chaotically fixated with memories of Nagant since the president mentioned her, that he hasn't been able to focus or think much about anything else. Even his nights with Asami are muddled with the intrusive thoughts of the woman he helped imprison.
His brain is rotting with images of her face in that moment that she realized he had betrayed her, and the thought of her being out there somewhere, readying herself to now retrieve Midoriya terrifies him to his core. All For One needs him alive to transfer the Quirk of One for All, so she won't kill him, but he knows that if she is on the case to retrieve the boy, she will not stop until she's dead—a feat easily said than done.
"It's going to rain soon," Hawks muses as he watches the storm clouds loom over the horizon. "Give or take two or three days."
"Tell me everything, Hawks," Midoriya's young voice brings the blonde back to the room and to the impending threat they are to face. "I can handle it."
Hawks sighs as he turns from the skyline and onto the green-haired boy that looks at him with hopeful eyes. "She was my mentor," he informs him as images of her laugh and smile flood his vision at the countless lighthearted moments that they had with one another. "She taught me everything I know," he informs the boy, thinking of how she was the one who pushed him to use fierce wings as vibration sensors and not just telekinetic retrievers.
"What is her temperament? Mannerisms?" he questions him, preparing himself for a battle that isn't his to fight.
Had Hawks not fought the Commission President, she would have had Nagant killed the day that they apprehended her. But it was his vehement begging and threatening that allowed for the huntress to remain alive and in the custody of Tartarus. But with her escape, comes the consequences of his actions that day. If Midoriya is taken in by Nagant and killed by All For One, it will be all his fault.
"She's lethal, patient, cunning, and dangerous," Hawks warns him. "She's able to shoot a target at 3 kilometers away and never miss." The young boy lifts his brows in astonishment and Hawks continues. "She will wait for you for days if she has to in order to get the perfect shot. She does not play games as she moves quickly in order to get the job done… fast and easy. It was once my top priority to bring her in before I debuted as a hero. It took three days and the entire commission force to catch her off-guard," he informs the young boy. "Though I don't imagine we'll have that upper-hand with her this time," he says disheartened. "The prisoners from Tartarus escaped months ago, and we've been unable to get the slightest sighting of Nagant. She's waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. I just don't know when that will be. If All For One somehow managed to convince her to come after you, the best thing you can do… is drop everything and run."
Midoriya swallows the building lump in his throat, never once seeing the lighthearted Number Two Hero ever this serious. "I will try my best," he assures him with a strong nod, but the crack in his tone reveals the clear fear of the situation.
"Endeavor and I will be at your side, but to be transparent with you, Kid, my wings are in no shape for flying. I honestly don't think I'll ever be able to fly again," Hawks chuckles because he isn't sure what else to do at this point. He hasn't come to terms with the reality, but he's allowed the farse to play for everyone around him, especially Asami.
"What about the use of support gear?" Midoriya questions. "Surely there is something that could assist you in flight?"
Hawks shakes his head, "Support gear is impossible to get with the state of Japan now. I don't imagine I'll be seeing anything coming my way anytime soon."
"Really?" Midoriya questions. "Iida was able to get some support items from Mei Hatsume just a day ago. Apparently, your friend Hatsuse sponsored the gear."
Hawks turns from the window to look onto the green-haired boy with tangling brows. "What?" is all he can say because he's completely taken aback by the information. Asami had never mentioned anything about support gear to him.
"Yeah, Iida informed me that she was able to pull money from other countries to fund his support gear, along with other heroes as well. Maybe she was able to get something to help you fly again!" the boy happily announces with accomplished fists.
A sting of hope strikes through Hawks' chest and he isn't sure why it feels so painful. He wants to fly again, but he didn't tell Asami that he couldn't. If she did in fact sponsor some sort of support gear for him, that would mean that she somehow found out that he had lied to her about Recovery Girl's assessment of him, and he dreads having that conversation with her. He didn't want her to know that his wings were gone for good because if she did, then she would blame herself for it. Asami has already placed the brunt of this war, the death of Twice, and the victims of Dabi on her shoulders; this was the last thing she needed to blame herself for.
"I'll check with Hatsume then," Hawks nods at the boy, bowing their respective goodbyes and he heads into the hallways towards the support shop.
As Hawks walks the halls of UA headed towards the promise of his wings being restored by Asami, he can't help but think of a memory between the two of them:
He had laid on his stomach in his bed, head pressed to his pillow as he watched Asami lay next to him. Her soft hand reached up to his bare back, lightly tracing the skin that bridged between his set of crimson wings.
A shiver rolled up his spine at her touch as a smile reached her swollen lips, still tender and red from their ravenous kisses only moments before.
"Your wings are beautiful," she had told him.
It was a compliment he had often gotten, but it sounded so different on her lips.
He doesn't remember what he had said to her, only that his heart had beaten wildly for her in that moment.
It still does. He reminds himself with a cringe at how far they've plummeted from where they once were. He used to be so comfortable around her, and now he can't even look her in the eyes and tell her that he wants to stay the night with her.
Hawks shakes his head of the memory and what it means now that his wings are far from the beauty she once admired. He instead focuses on heading to the Support Class shop to see if there is any hope of regaining that beauty back for Asami.
When Hawks pushes through the double doors he's greeted by a deafening cry.
"LET'S GO!" the excited howl bounces off the walls as the rabbit hero is outfitted with her new support gear.
"We spared no expense thanks to Hatsuse's donation" Hatsume informs the hero. "Carbon fiber exterior, titanium base with flexing steel alloy enforcement; these bad boys are going to be stronger and faster than anything on the market!" she proudly narrates as Miruko cautiously tests the movements of the prosthetic leg and arm.
"Can I test them out?" Miruko eagerly questions, and when Hatsume nods, she begins jumping and punching around the shop.
"This thing is light as a feather!" she swoons at the smoothness of her movements.
"It's the best materials money could buy!"
Miruko begins training the limbs to her movements with an excitement in her smile that she was able to get something that could not only keep up with her speed, but also hold up to her strength. With this new gear, she will be back in the field in no time and she'll finally feel helpful again.
It's only then that Miruko sees from the corner of her eyes the blonde Number Two Hero standing and watching her train.
"Lookie what I got, Birdy!" Miruko sings as the blonde approaches her with a quizzical look when she flexes the new support gear.
"Looks nice!" Hawks compliments her with a growing smile reaching his lips. "Supply chain finally easing up?"
"Nah, your girl paid for these shiny toys!" she says as she stops jumping around to look at him. "Look at how amazing these things are! I could marry that girl if she wasn't already yours!" Hawks returns the look with a confused tilt of his head. Miruko reads this and blinks back at him. "Oh, I figured she'd told you," she begins with a now relaxed tone. "Hatsuse donated a huge chunk of change to get support gear delivered here."
"She paid for the prosthetics?" he questions.
"And some muffler updates for Iida, as well as miscellaneous items needed for three other heroes waiting for parts," Hatsume informs him.
"Oh wow," Hawks responds as he looks around the shop to see it in a full swing of production for the first time since the war. "How much did this all cost?"
"She gave us access to everything! There's hardly anything left," she trails off as she looks around at all the projects Asami's money was able to buy and complete.
"Didn't you need some prosthetics for your wings?" Miruko questions as she remembers a conversation between him and the president of the HPSC. "Your girl had to have gotten you the top-of-the-line shit if this is what she got little ol' me!"
Hatsume cocks her head to the side at this, "Hatsuse informed me that there was no support gear needed for you."
"Oh," Miruko slumps down as she begins connecting what is going on. She figured Hawks would have told her that his wings wouldn't grow back to their once glory. She figured that with that information Asami used up her lifesavings to get him the best alternative. Miruko assumed that she and Iida were an afterthought to spend the remainder of what wasn't spent on Hawks. But this… this made things awkward.
Miruko doesn't ask Hawks why he never told Asami about the state of his wings because she already knows the answer to it. She can see how Hawks and Asami tiptoe around the subject of his wings, and her scars, and the patchwork villain that did this to the both of them. She knows it's too awkward for the two of them, so she's not surprised that Hawks didn't mention the permanent state of his wings to her.
Hawks turns from Miruko and looks over to Hatsume. His shoulders are stiff and he looks tired. He hasn't been sleeping well at all recently and he could use some of his favorite canned coffee right about now.
"The president of the HPSC came here a few days ago asking about support gear for you," Hatsume begins as she turns her attention to Hawks. "She asked what we could do about your wings, but the orders were already placed using Hatsuse's money."
"What kind of support gear was the president looking into?" Hawks asks her as he tries to keep his mind off of Asami and why she wouldn't mention using all her money to buy this gear.
"Well," she begins thinking thoughtfully, "Basic wing prosthetics when supplemented with your existing wings could get you off of the ground, but they'd be far too primitive for someone of your rank," she analyzes as she speaks more out loud than to Hawks. "I was thinking of something far more advanced! Each artificial feather crafted from the toughest yet most flexible Graphene, implanted with heat sensing tracking so they could be utilized as an individual weapon, just like your fierce wings were!" she excitedly narrates. "Each feather could be remote controlled to follow one of your natural ones, giving a supplement to any attack or rescue, that way you don't need to use as many of your natural feathers. And on top of everything, Graphene has a 3,700-degree melting point, so we won't have to worry about the drawbacks that your fierce wings had!"
Hawks is taken aback. It sounds absolutely amazing. Almost too good to be true. He knew there had to be a catch.
"You put a lot of effort into this," Hawks compliments her.
She turns from him, shuffling through a mountain of spare parts before pulling out a small dark gray feather no larger than the size of his palm. She hands it to him and he's shocked to feel how lightweight it is. Upon further inspection, he notices the small honeycomb fiber threading together to form the shape of a feather.
"This is a prototype I was able to conceive with what little was left of Hatsuse's donation," she tells him. "May I see one of your feathers?" She asks him and he nods once, unplucking the feather from his back and waving it before her without moving an inch of his body.
"The prototype will read the heat signatures of the fierce wings and follow it toward any destination you choose," she begins to explain as she grabs the gray feather and turns it on with a remote device. "Go ahead, try it out!" she encourages him as the false feather flies weightlessly between them next to his red feather.
Without moving, Hawks commands the feather of his fierce wings to zip around the three of them in the room. To his shock, the grey feather follows the exact same movements of his feather without a lag or lapse in movement. His eyes widen in disbelief as he begins to command the feather to perform more complex moves, and surprised to see that it keeps up effortlessly with his own.
"As it stands, up to sixty prototype feathers can sync to a single fierce wing," she informs him. "So, assuming the current state of your wings is what we are working with, we can return your wingspan to what it was before. You'll be able to fight like you once did!" she says with pride at her hard work in creating such an amazing device.
Hawks is blown away by her creation as he plants the false wing into his back with the rest of his natural ones.
"Hatsume, this is amazing! You've completed outdone yourself!" Hawks happily compliments her. "When can I expect the rest?"
And that is when he realizes there is a catch—when he sees that proud smile on her lips flatten out to a pressed line. He realizes that there isn't going to be anymore.
"This technology is very complicated and very expensive," she begins to explain to him. "The minimum amount of money that we would need to get you air bound would be roughly around 50 million yen, and to return your wings to what they used to be, we are looking at closer to 90 million."
"I see," he says as the excitement he just felt moments ago washes away.
"Maybe we can talk to Hatsuse?" Miruko offers as she turns her head to Hawks for a response. "You gotta tell her you're grounded due to the injuries. I'm sure if she knew that, she'd find a way to pay for these feathers." Miruko sees that Hawks seems to be skeptical and she places her hand on his shoulder as a comfort. "She'd want you to fly, Hawks. And Japan needs you."
"Yeah," he says nodding his head, knowing that Japan and young Midoriya need him out there at his finest. "I'll talk to her."
Asami shakes her head as her brows wrinkle at the base of her forehead. She looks onto the man that shares the same shade of lilac in their eyes to find that he's serious with his words.
"America?" she drops, "What… why?"
Her father's facial features paint just how annoyed he's increasingly getting with her, and had they not had an audience around them, he'd slap some sense into her.
"Look at you," he begins with a clear dissatisfaction in his tone as he reaches his hand out to her face.
Asami flinches when his fingers reach her jaw, expecting him to strike her, but he instead brushes the rough scarred skin with his thumb. Her eyes reach his once more to see the look of disappointment lacing his features instead of concern.
"Look at what he's done to your beautiful face."
Asami steps away from his outreached hand and returns to the topic at hand. "I can't leave," she tells him with a stern tone. "I have work here."
"Asami, don't be foolish. Heroes have no need for a publicist, the state of Japan is in disarray!" he speaks to her as if she were blind to it. As if she hadn't any clue what world she was living in.
"I have friends here," she responds with a dry tone.
"And when things settle down here, you can return," he states with a finality in his tone. "I'm not having this conversation with you, we're leaving tomorrow," he asserts as he turns from her.
"Why now?" Asami questions before he can walk away from her as the timing makes her suspicious. "The war happened months ago. Why are you just coming to get me now?"
Her father looks at her with narrowed purple eyes. "Are you really that blind to the state Japan is in right now? There are no flights coming into the country. How was I to come to you earlier?"
"You've clearly used your personal plane to fly here. It could have been done earlier if you were truly worried—"
"What does the timeline matter? I am here now!" he snaps at her.
"I'm needed here," she fights back as she stands her ground. "I'm not doing PR work, I'm healing people." Her father looks at her with a dumbfounded look and she reiterates. "I'm using my Quirk. I've learned that if I move the blood in one's body I can heal—"
"You're using your Quirk?" her father speaks over her with a tight tone that makes her do a double take of his demeanor.
"Well, yeah, but I'm using it to heal people, Dad. Our Quirk isn't just villainous," she explains to him. "When I move the blood from someone's heart—"
"Have you not learned anything from what I've told you?" he snaps at her. "You're never to use your Quirk on others!"
"But Dad, I'm helping people!" she begs him to understand. "I've been training with a teacher, Vlad King. And he's taught me to really control—"
"I do not care, Asami! You will stop using your Quirk because I say so!" his voice barks at her, causing Uraraka and others at the table to glance at them.
Asami opens her mouth to continue pressing the subject when her father speaks over her once more, changing the topic to a matter she'd rather not discuss, "I saw the video," he informs her. "The one that deranged bastard of Endeavor's created."
Asami takes a step back from her father to catch herself from losing her footing. The mention of Dabi has her reminded of her condition, not only on her face, but her stomach as well. She quickly wraps her arms around her stomach as she hugs herself in an attempt to hide the bump that Hawks reminded her is 'showing'.
"Your scars," he scoffs, looking at the state her face is in, only wondering how much more of her is marked in this way. "You'll hardly be a suitable match with the sorry state he's left you in."
Asami's brows press together in confusion at his choice of words and he sighs, figuring now is as good of any to tell her why he is really here since the doting father façade doesn't seem to stick with her.
"I'm not going to America, Dad," she tells him sternly. "I'm staying here because I'm valuable to the heroes."
"It is not up for discussion. Have your things ready for tomorrow."
"Your sudden act of concerned fatherly figure is nauseating," she sneers at him. "So, drop the charade and tell me; why are you really here?"
Her father sighs, realizing his daughter is far too smart for her own good and there's no faking what's brought him here.
Kenji looks around the room to ensure no one is listening in on their conversation. When he assesses the coast to be clear, he turns to his daughter and asks in a hushed tone, "Why did you drain your bank accounts?"
Asami's blood runs cold and her body stiffens at his question. She blinks at him in response because she's utterly shocked that he would ask her such a thing. Was she really that foolish to believe for only a moment that he might have come her because he actually cared for her? Of course he wasn't here to take her back to America, and of course he wasn't here because he cared.
"You're really here because of money?" before her father can fain a poorly acted fatherly love, she speaks over him, "How did you even know that I drained the accounts? Those were in my name, with my money in it. They had nothing to do with you."
"Those were banks that I've used for years, Asami," her father scolds her. "The staff know me well, and though they couldn't stop the transfer, they would never allow that much money to be moved without alerting me first."
"It's none of your business," she returns with clench teeth. "The money is mine."
"And you're spending it frivolously," he snaps back. "With money like that, you could fix whatever horrors that bastard of Endeavor's did to your face."
Her father sees her uncomfortable stance at the continuous mention of Dabi and realizes that he's being harsh with her. "Listen," he begins in a softer tone after an annoyed sigh while he places his hand comforting on her shoulder, ignoring his daughter's reaction to flitch at his touch. "Have the money returned where it can be waiting for you somewhere safe."
"I spent it," she tells him simply and his brows press together in annoyance. "Don't you have your own money?"
"Don't be ridiculous, of course I do," he barks back. "I'm only looking out for you and your future. I've arranged a marriage for you back in America with a prominent associate of mine and—"
"What?" Asami shrieks as her skin crawls at the notion. "No… you… you can't," she fumbles on her words as her body twitches with an uncomfortable itch at his scheme.
"Because of the boyfriend?" he questions her with a dissatisfied look on his face while Asami returns with widened eyes. "Yes, I saw the press conference with the Top 3," he begins as he mentions Hawks outing their relationship. She expects him to yell at her for sleeping with him while he was her boss, but instead he says, "A heteromorph? Really Asami?" he shakes his head with dissatisfaction.
"He's hardly a heteromorph," Asami responds with a tense expression on her face at her father's blatant racism.
"Yes, but think of how his Quirk could mix with yours and effect your children," he begins to scold. "Imagine having a child with the face of a damned bird or something," he shakes his head at the thought and Asami tightens her fists at her sides. "Hardly a suitable match, Asami. Be realistic. I have something set up for you in America."
"Look around, Dad," Asami shakes her head. "We are in a war. I'm not going to leave the people that I've helped to be some business man's trophy. You have more money than you can spend in your lifetime! We don't need any more money in an investment fund, we need to use what we have to help the heroes that are protecting us!"
Her father sighs and Asami sees that he's annoyed with her. She keeps herself from rolling her eyes because she knows it will only cause him to scold her like when she was a child.
"Look, I'm doing a lot of good work here. I'm helping people and I'm maintaining honor to our Hatsuse name." Kenji turns from his daughter, looking around to see all the downcast faces around her. "Just…" Asami hangs on the word, not wanting to be a pawn in her father's plot to gain more money than he needs. "Just give me a week to convince you to let me stay. Let me show you everything that I have accomplished here," she says, thinking about how she can show him the support gear she's purchased and the development with her Quirk that's saved so many lives.
Her father looks at her, seeing the timidness in her stance as she hugs herself tightly. He doesn't care for her development, nor her friends, or anything for that matter. But before he can press her any further, her name is called out by a voice coming from behind her.
Asami's response to the voice has her shoulders stiffen as another wave of discontent recoils through her. He peers around her rigid frame to look onto the man that called her name to land on the golden eyes of the Number Two Hero.
"Oh," Hawks halts his stride when his eyes land on the purple-haired man. "Apologies, I didn't mean to interrupt," he says quickly as he bows apologetically.
"That's quite alright," Asami's father quickly changes his demeanor to adopt a softer one. "You must be the boyfriend."
The word makes both Asami and Hawks tense up. Hawks did admit to Asami being his girlfriend on television in front of all those reporters, but with the strangeness between the two of them being so prevalent, neither of them hardly sees each other that way and to have the word brought up between the two of them makes it even stranger.
Hawks instead answers with another bow, a now more respectful one in greeting.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Hatsuse," he responds before lifting himself from his bow to send a quick glance towards Asami. He's known her long enough to recognize when she's uncomfortable with a situation, and she's practically crawling in her skin with her father around. His eyes dart quickly back on her father.
The purple-haired man responds with no bow of respect and instead looks down on the blonde before saying, "It would have been nicer to meet under better circumstances considering this has been going on for years."
Asami grits her teeth at her father's harshness, but Hawks is quick to make good of the situation. "I understand wholeheartedly, it was never my intention to keep this information from you. Unfortunately, my career demanded a certain public perception that required me to appear single."
"I understand the importance of public perception well, boy," he returns in a flat tone.
Asami hates this so much right now. She can feel herself crawling back into her shell at the clear tension building between her father and Hawks as the blonde tries desperately to be respectful. She awkwardly waits for her father to say something horrendous about him being a heteromorph again and ruin this moment more than it already is.
"But let those be bygones!" Kenji's demeanor swiftly changes as he smiles wildly at the hero with eyes closed happily. "Quite the surprise to hear my sweet Asami has found herself with the Number Two Hero of Japan!"
Asami side-eyes her father, clenching her jaw when he quickly changes his spirits to fain happiness as if the exchange between them didn't just happen.
"Yeah," Hawks responds with a bashful scratch of the back of his head, feeling whiplash from the quickly changing tone of conversation. "You have a wonderful daughter and I care for her deeply," he tells him honestly, feeling his heart fluttering at those words.
"I am lucky and to have such a well-tempered daughter, and pleased to see she's found a well-adjusted man like yourself."
"What brings you to Japan? How long should we expect you to stay? I would be honored to formally sit with you," Hawks speaks respectfully to him.
Her father smiles at the blonde hero with a wide grin that curls up the side of his face. It's a grin he wore when he secures a deal with a new hero, when he solidified his marriage to the most beautiful Quirkless woman he could find, and when he spoke to Endeavor about marrying off his daughter to a boy who was supposed to be a top hero. It was a grin that he wears when he knows he can elevate his name.
"I would love that," he informs the blonde and Asami returns with a confused stare at her father's quickly changing manner.
"Hawks," Asami turns to the blonde, calling him by his hero name and not his real name. "Would you be able to give me and my father a moment?"
"Nonsense!" her father speaks over the hero before he can give her time. "I saw him approaching you with a purpose in his stride, what was it that brought you to seek out my daughter?"
Hawks stiffens at this comment, feeling uneasy with the idea of her father inserting himself in a moment where Hawks needed to be vulnerable with Asami.
"Ah, it's nothing," he brushes aside.
"You know," her father continues, "When I saw you on the television, I assumed your wings would be bigger, yet these seem far smaller in person."
"Dad, stop," Asami bites down.
"Is this because of the altercation with Endeavor's boy?" he presses. "It hardly looks like you'd be able to take flight with these wings."
"Well, he can," Asami snaps at her father to stop bringing up that vile day. "He's just healing."
Asami looks up at Hawks, but when she looks into his eyes, she can see a hesitation breaking his gaze. He looks saddened by her words and both she and her father catch his look.
"Doesn't seem he can," her father answers what Hawk's stare gave them.
"Keigo," Asami quivers under her breath as she sees the guilt plainly take over his features. "Why didn't you tell me?" Fuck, if this is the last place that she wants to have this conversation. This should have been something they discussed in the confines of their late-night conversations where she could have properly consoled him with this information. The last thing either of them needed was this to be aired out in front of her father.
"I'm sorry," is all he can respond with because he was too ashamed and worried about her to tell her the truth.
"You should have told me. I… Is there anything I can do?" she asks, trying to fix what her Quirk wasn't strong enough to do. "Maybe with some support gear?" she begins to question as she lights up at the thought. "I can talk to Hatsume about the money that I donated, maybe she can put some of it towards an aid for you!" she excitedly announces.
"I spoke with Hatsume," Hawks begins, hating to see the hope sparkling in her eyes before crushing it with, "She has a prototype, but it's extremely expensive, and the money has all been spent already," he delivers with a downcast in his eyes.
Asami blinks back at him, feeling a twisting in her chest at how helpless she is in this moment. She can't even help out the ones that she loves the most. Her Quirk was worthless in this scenario, and now so was her money.
"How expensive?" Asami's lips part as she shoots her head to her father. She had forgotten he was there in the shock of it all, and she certainly didn't expect the soft tone coming from his lips.
"Roughly 90 million yen," Hawks informs him with a dry mouth.
Kenji looks down at his daughter, seeing the pain in her face at the news of her lover's situation. It is in this moment that Kenji sees just how advantageous this scenario is. He almost wants to smile to himself at how perfectly his daughter has played her part to have the Number Two Hero of Japan falling helplessly for her—heteromorph or not.
"I'd be willing to sponsor the prototype," her father speaks up with a proud and charitable voice. The amount is nothing to him, but it's clearly the world to him. Hawks is practically begging on his hind legs for this bone.
Asami turns to her father with an incredulous look on her face at his grand gesture, while Hawks feels his heart beating with an excitement of potentially flying once more.
"On one condition," her father quickly shuts down the starry-eyed look in the two's eyes. Both of them fall back to reality and look onto the business man, waiting for him to state his clause. "Understand that this is a lot of money, and I don't make risky investments."
"Of course," Hawks bows his head, understanding that he will have to give something in return.
"So, I will sponsor the support gear on the condition that you agree to marry my daughter."
A/N: Lol another chapter with no Dabi! I am killing you guys slowly, and now a Hawks proposal?! Don't hate me!
How do you guys think this will pan out? Curious to hear your thoughts and predictions! The next chapter is going to have our burnt boi, don't you worry! Thanks always for the support! Please drop a comment because I love hearing from you all! It seriously makes my day! 3