Chapter 58
Present Day – Day 178
"Dad," Asami's voice cracks in her throat as she stands stiffly near the blonde hero who has yet to gain the strength to respond. "You can't… just ask that of him," she struggles on her words, still fully dumbfounded by her father's blunt request.
"I simply mean to secure your future. I see it only fit that if I were to put so much investment in his future, that Hawks return the gesture by taking proper care of my daughter," her father explains. "And he can always say no," he adds with a quirked eyebrow at the blonde, knowing he's really in no place to refuse.
Asami turns her head towards Hawks, seeing his golden eyes glaze over as they seem to be lost in playing out every outcome of every decision he can make from here. She turns her gaze back to her father, who eagerly waits for his answer.
"Can you give us a moment to discuss this?" she asks her father. "This isn't something we can just decide on the spot."
"Of course," her father tells her. "Though, I want my answer by the end of the week. Then we can make our arrangements from there."
Asami swallows hard when her father excuses himself from the two of them and leaves the cafeteria. She turns back to the blonde who still seems to be lost in thought at what his next move should be.
"You don't have to do this," Asami tells him with upturned brows. "We can find another way for you to fly."
Hawks looks down at her with hurt eyes, as if feeling rejected by her for suggesting another way. She's shocked to see the frown on his lips, when she explains herself. "I don't want you to feel entrapped by me," she releases the core feeling bubbling in her gut at her situation. She has a ton of baggage that she's carrying with her—literally—and the last thing she would ever want to do would be to drag Hawks down with her.
"You're not a trap, Asami," his voice makes her heart flip in her chest, but she isn't convinced that he's fully on board with this.
"Think about this, Keigo," she begins with a hushed tone so no one around can hear. "I'm pregnant with another man's baby, and I…"
"I choose him."
She promptly looks away from Hawks when her voice rings out in her head, and she vehemently ignores the flipping of her heart at the man behind that declaration. This isn't fair. Not to Hawks. Not to her. And she feels helpless.
"Just… think about this, Keigo," she tells him as her eyes fixate on a discarded plate of food on the table next to them. "I don't want you to resent me."
Hawks' next move surprises Asami when he reaches out for her, tugging on her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. He buries her face in his chest and cups the back of her head with the palm of his hand. He brushes her hair with soft swipes as she's left stunned in his grip. He doesn't say anything to her, and they stand there for a moment, thinking of nothing else.
When they separate from one another, Asami tells him that she needs a moment to herself. He releases her with a reassuring smile, and she rushes to her bedroom with a heavy weight crushing down on her chest. She feels like she's being crashed against the rocks of a coastline by vicious waves of a cruel storm. She can barely stay afloat and she feels like she's being pulled under the current.
Before Asami knows it, she's kneeling next to her bed, pulling out the diamond ring she tucked away since she was given this room. Not a moment went by that she never thought about this ring and the vow it represented.
"Marry me, Butterfly."
"It wasn't real," her voice cracks through the quiet space of her bedroom.
"If we're doing this… Then it's real."
"It wasn't real," she repeats as she tightens her fist around the ring.
"This is real," she had told him back then. "I'm yours, Touya, and you're mine."
Asami holds the ring tightly in her grip as she begins crying at the memory. Her back shakes with each huff of air she fails to take in. She lets herself think about that life if only for another moment. To think of the countryside, the babies, the rice farms. To think of Touya.
But that was all in the past, and there was nothing left of that love for her to unravel. And yet, even knowing that, she still can't seem to get rid of this ring—this vow—and the man that is left behind it.
"I'm sorry," she sniffles as she places the ring back under the mattress of her bed. She takes in a deep breath, schooling her emotions back into the pressed smile she's been wearing since she was brought here.
Present Day – Day 179
The air is thick with a dewy humidity lingering around her. Nagant walks the streets of a city torn and ransacked by raiders. Most of Japan has been set ablaze with countless blue and orange flames lighting up the cloudy skies. By day, heavy clouds of ash rain down on the people below from the never-ending fires burning, while at night the sky is lit with heavy smoke from the red embers.
She doesn't fear any altercations with villains trying to steal from her or civilians trying to fend her off, because she's learned to handle herself at a young age.
Nagant is so well trained, that she's spotted a man that's been tailing her for the past four kilometers or so. She's allowed the hooded male the impression that she is unaware to his presence for the past hour because she is waiting for him to make his move against her, but he hasn't as he continues to maintain a good distance between them.
She can't get a good view of him, considering he is hooded and she doesn't want to give away that she knows he's following her. So, she simply waits for him to make his move, preparing herself to fight back against him when he does.
She turns a corner to see a group of vagrants warming themselves by a dumpster fire. The group consists of three men, all hugging themselves for warmth in their poorly addressed attire for the brisk night. One of them sneers at her, making a point to eye her up and down as if assessing her threat level and seeing none. The other two don't seem to pay her much attention until the first slaps the arms of the others and alerting them to her presence.
The street is completely empty of anyone other than these three, and Nagant wonders if she's stumbled on someone's turf. Villains have made it a point to retake sections of cities by force, going into all out battles with one another over the rights to claim certain streets. She's managed to avoid these areas because the last thing she wants is to deal with these scum.
She's not looking for a fight tonight, and the last thing she wants is for these three to do something stupid and make her kill them. She continues her walk as she encroaches towards them and waits for them to engage her. She's on edge and preparing herself mentally for a close quartered fight.
"Oh shit," one of the men speaks under his breath. "It's him."
"Fuck," the other exclaims in a more frantic and fearful tone that has Nagant perking up. "Let's get the hell outta here!"
She slowly turns around, trying to see what the men are so fearful of, only to see nothing behind her. Before she can turn back to the men that fled their shelter, she feels an arm snake around her neck and force her into a chokehold.
Nagant is quick to react, forcing her elbow into the assailant's ribs, her heel onto his toes, and the back of her head crashing into his nose. She hears the subtle grunt of pain respond to her movements, and his arm slackens around her neck, allowing her to wiggle out of his hold.
She turns around, readying herself to fight off her attacker when she's met with his palm pointed at her face that's emanating a white light and an overwhelming heat. "Easy now," his voice coos in an arrogant tone. "Wouldn't wanna burn this pretty little face of yours." His palm grows hotter as sparks of blue flames threaten to engulf her face.
Nagant takes a step away from the palm, lifting her hands up in the air in surrender. Her attacker lowers his palm to reveal the hooded man. "You've been following me for the past hour," she sneers at the man who hides behind his hood.
He lets out an amused chuckle, "You noticed? I'm impressed."
"You're hardly the slyest I've come across," she says, thinking about how Hawks was far more proficient in stealth than this guy. "What the hell do you want?"
The hooded figure loosens his shoulders, lifting his hand in the air to pull back the hood of his jacket and reveal a face disfigured by purple blotches of burned skin and shining silver staples holding his face together. Nagant's features drop at the grotesque sight of him as he steps closer to her. He reeks of burning flesh and ash, what little is left of his healthy skin is red and irritated looking, and his eyes are bloodshot from what appears to be lack of sleep.
She makes no efforts to hide how disgusted she is with his appearance, and the elusive sneer in the bridge of his nose shows that he notices this. "Well, aren't you just a lovely girl?" he shakes his head at her as his sideways grin tugs on the staple nearest to his lips.
Nagant recoils at his tone. "Outta my way," she says lowly as she pushes past him.
He quickly grabs hold of her wrist, and when she makes a move to fight back against his grip, he activates the fire of his Quirk and begins heating up her skin to the point of burning. "Hey now, don't be so rude. We're partners after all," his voice is rough as if he's been smoking and completely destroyed his voice box.
She turns to him with a confused stare before it finally strikes her. It happened months ago that she had practically forgotten. "You're the associate All For One was talking about?" she says with a groan, internally hoping that he's just some perv trying to hit on her and not someone she is intended to work with.
"Here in the—rotting—flesh," he jests with a wide nauseating grin.
"I don't need assistance in this mission," she deadpans. "You can tell your boss I've got this."
"Not an assistant, Princess. A babysitter," he corrects her.
"If All For One wants this job to be completed without fail, then I need my space, without dragging some dead weight like you around."
He places a hand on his chest, imitating a hurt disposition. "Ouch, Princess, that really hurts," he says before chuckling as she rolls her eyes. "Doesn't matter what you want in the end, boss sent me here, so I'm here."
"Didn't realize there was any structure within the League of Villains," she states as she pushes past him to continue walking her aimless route.
"Think we're just a bunch of purposeless renegades?" he asks her as he joins her stride with his hands dug deeply in his pockets.
She side-eyes him with a bored look in her eyes. His question seems genuine and she sighs, trying not to roll her eyes. "Look around," she directs him. "Half of Japan is on fire—your handywork no doubt," she sneers and he smiles at her with a proud sideways grin. "What's the purpose though?" she questions him. "You have the heroes cowering in a cage while you set fire to everything around it. Yet I'm not hearing of any demands that you or All For One making to put a stop to the carnage."
"I'm not burnin' the island to make negotiations."
"Why then?" she asks him with a shake of her head.
Dabi returns her inquisition with a chuckle as he shoots his head to the sky. The air is thick with a rising humidity as the clouds above them threaten to weep. "I'm try'na get my girl back," he admits with a hoarse tone.
Nagant glances at him with furrowed brows as she sees the contemplative look in his eyes that watch the growing storm above them. "You're doing all of this for a girl?" she questions him skeptically, unable to fathom who could possibly want to belong with the likes of someone like him.
"Once she sees the hell I've created for her, she won't be able to stomach it. It's only a matter of time until her good conscience has her running back to me."
Nagant shakes her head at his stupid plan. "It's been months, your girl doesn't seem to give a shit about Japan."
Dabi laughs at her comment with a genuine snicker dancing against his throat. "My guess is the heroes are keeping her well locked up."
"You have too much faith in the heroes," she tells him and he side-eyes her. "Knowing the Commission, they'd toss her to the wolves if it meant ending your rampage."
"I don't want their negotiations or agreements," he tells her as he turns away from her. "I'm getting Butterfly my way, not theirs," he says so quietly under his breath that he doesn't expect Nagant to hear him.
They walk amongst each other for a moment lost in their own minds. The moisture in the air begins to thicken and Nagant mentally prepares herself for a fight, mapping out how someone with a Fire Quirk could help her in this situation. All For One made a point to mention the rain effecting a fire-based Quirk when he commissioned her for this fight. She assumed that he was referring to the Number One Hero Endeavor, so why would he send his manic son to help her?
Nagant has always had a talent for predicting a person's next move. With her Quirk, she would have to anticipate what her target was thinking and where they would go. She would make sure that whatever move they made, her bullet would pierce them first. But there was something different about this patchwork villain who walks alongside her. Wringing his hands and chewing on the inside of his cheek impatiently next to her, Lady Nagant can't help but feel a sense of uneasiness as she watches the man nervously move. She can't read him, can't tell what his next move will be with his edgy demeanor, and that makes him an unpredictable variable in this battle.
She works through so many ways that this fight can pan out in her head, and none of the scenarios make sense for him to be the person paired up with her. Dabi has arguably become the most recognizable person from the League thanks to his little video airing out his family's dirty laundry, so having him helping her on a stealth mission seems implausible. The ferocity of his flames is directly affected by the rain that she plans to fight in, not to mention that it won't aid her in the battle at all as it will create more obstacles against her Quirk and hinder it more than aid it.
Considering how much All For One likes to have a plan for everything, this one seems to be riddled with flaws… unless this wasn't a plan of his in the first place.
"You know anything about this kid?" Dabi's voice brings Nagant out of her mental rant.
She shrugs at him, "What's there to know? He's a kid, this'll be simple."
Dabi chuckles at her simplistic view of her opponent. He pulls out a carton of cigarettes from his breast pocket, offering her one only to place one on his lips and putting the carton back when she declines. He lights the white stick with his Quirk and makes a point to take his time with a heavy drag.
"Don't underestimate these little shits," he tells her with no tease or carefree tone. She tilts her head up at him to see him looking off into the distance, eyes fixated on nothing in the horizon. "Perfect little masterpiece," he scoffs with a shake of his head.
She watches him as Dabi's mind is transfixed on the moment that he fought Shouto. Maybe he was stupid for thinking that his desire to die would heat his flames enough to win the battle. He was really foolish enough to think that his studying of his father's technique on his own would trump that half-baked puppet's years of training.
Even with the element of surprising that shit masterpiece with his identity did nothing to gain the battlefield to his advantage. Sure, he had Endeavor cowering on his knees, watching with his mouth agape like he fucking cared that he was alive.
Endeavor left him on that mountain to burn. He didn't give a shit to see his ultimate move, and because Dabi was so hellbent on showing his father the piece of shit that he is, Dabi decided to use his father's move against him. He figured it would have been more poetic that way.
Damn that fucking denim cuck for ruining my moment! Hawks must have let him out. Fucking Hawks.
And the thought of that winged pretty boy has Dabi's fists tightening as they threaten to ignite with his rage. Burning his damn back, pinning him to the ground and making him pay for taking the life of his friend, and that mother fucker is probably sleeping with his girl every night.
Enjoy it while it last, pretty bird. I'll get her back.
Dabi takes in a deep breath, bringing himself down from his rage when he remembers that Nagant is still next to him, sensing his change in mood and temperature. He goes to take another drag of his cigarette when he realizes that he incinerated it from his shifting mood.
"I fought the kid," he speaks up, bringing her attention on him. "He's one of those insufferable 'save everyone' types," he says referring to the green-haired boy who cried out to him to stop his assault on Shouto. "He's got a powerful skill set, but if there's anything more annoying than that, it's that fucking 'can-do' attitude," he says rolling his bright eyes.
"I know the type," Nagant says as two eagle-eyed golden beams strike against her memory.
"He's not going down without a fight," he informs her. "And he's going to make damn sure to try to save you in the process. So, if you want to get the advantage on him, give him some collateral damage to consider." Dabi thinks about Hawks killing a man to save thousands. About Asami abandoning Twice and throwing herself in his flames to save Hawks. "When faced with multiple lives on the line, he's going to trip up trying to save them all."
Nagant watches as Dabi's head shoots up the sky seeing the first drops of water begin falling from above them. Small droplets sizzle against his cheeks when they hit against his patchworked skin.
"You say that like you're not here to stay," Nagant questions him.
Dabi chuckles and cranes his head down, seeing the annoyed look pressing against her thick brows. She looks a lot like Asami with that expression on her face, and he can't ignore his heart racing at that thought.
"Yeah, gotta admit, I'm not the guy All For One sent for you," he discloses with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders.
"I knew it," she shakes her head as she speaks under her breath.
"He sent you the lizard. He's probably still looking for you back in that warehouse you were squatting at."
"Then why are you here?" she asks him as she halts her stride and turning to him with her arms placed on her hips.
Dabi's smile fades as he looks down at her. "The idiot lizard let that faceless ball sack give him a Quirk without even a second thought. I was able to tell that little blonde psychopath not to take shit from him before he turned to either of us."
"What's your point?" she presses him to get on with what he's getting at.
"I joined the League because they were gaining notoriety after the USJ attack and they aligned with Stain's teachings. Mostly, I wanted to join a radical group of villains that became so dangerous, my old man couldn't ignore their name. And eventually when he got tied up in trying to bring us in and learned my name, I knew I was where I was meant to be." Dabi looks up at the sky, watching as the rain begins tearing through the orange clouds above.
"Shigaraki is a pain in the ass," he continues with a crass tone. "And sometimes acts more like some incel gamer than a threat to anyone, but he's the boss. He's the guy that I was able to get behind, and after All For One got locked up, and we had no idea where we were going, he was looking for a place for us." He shakes his head as he gets to his point. "Twice liked him, and every time I questioned his methods, Twice reminded me that we were all chosen by Shigaraki to stick together. Ever since that sack-face took over, Shigaraki hasn't been himself."
Dabi pulls his hands out of his pockets and looks down at them. They are calloused from his constant use of his Quirk, and there isn't much of his healthy skin left.
"All For One offered me a Quirk when he was handin' them out. He didn't offer me fire resistance as you might have guessed," Dabi laughs with a tactless snort. "He offered me ice."
Nagant examines him as waves of emotions flow through his face, all to be masked with a building contempt in his brows.
"Poetic right? The failure son of Endeavor coming from the grave to bring him down with the perfect Quirk that he destroyed his family to attain." Dabi curls his fingers into a tightened fist. "Only it's not my Quirk. I'm not going to kill that bastard with a fucking handout!" he sneers as he bears his teeth. "I'm going to kill my old man with my flames. I know I'm going to die doing it, and that's what's so poetic about it; dying because the one he thought wasn't strong enough was anything but."
Nagant looks up at Dabi as a smile is plastered on his face so pressed that she can't help but see how false his happiness is with his plan. "And what about your Butterfly?" she questions him as his facial features drop to look down at her.
He huffs out a chuckle, "You know that All For One boobytrapped that Quirk he gave you?" he changes the subject and she blinks at him. "You don't do as he pleases, and you'll end up a husk like Shigaraki. Or maybe even worse," he tells her with a shrug of his shoulders.
"You really think I'm dumb enough not to realize that All For One bugged me with some contingency?" Nagant questions him, knowing far too well that All For One considered this. "He wants the job done, and he's going to make sure I do it. He knows that if anyone can evade him, it's me," she says. "When he gave me that Quirk, I know he made sure I wouldn't go against him."
"And you're okay with that?" Dabi mocks her. "You just let him do that to you, knowingly?"
"I either play his game willingly and get something out of it, or be forced into his servitude. If I'm going to be someone's dog, I'm at least going to be able to bite out of it."
Dabi snots at her analogy. "I'd rather be put down," he says under his breath as the rain begins pouring.
They both crane their heads to the sky, watching as the heavens weep down the beginnings of a torrential downpour.
"Looks like this is my queue," he sighs as he places the hood of his jacket over his soaked white hair. "Good luck, Princess. I hope it goes your way," he says before turning from her and waving lazily back at her.
Hawks leans against the black car with his hands dug deeply in his pockets and his feet crossed at his ankles. He looks down at his black boots completely lost in thought while he waits for Deku to join him and the other Top Three. His mind has been muddled all night as he replays the conversation from the night before.
He thinks about what Asami said and how he needs to think about the decision more. If he says no to her father, not only will Asami be skirted away to America, but he will be left without a benefactor to pay for his wings. Hawks has already felt like dead weight on these missions considering what little feathers he has can't even pick up a handbag, let alone save a person. He can't be a hero without his wings, and he doesn't know what his life means to be anything but a hero.
There was a time where he was worked ragged that he wanted to create a life where he could have some time off. Where he could take Asami on a proper date where they would eat chicken until their bellies imploded from overeating. But now with all this downtime, he feels useless and helpless like he did when he was a child watching his father dictate over their home.
The deal isn't terrible; he'll marry Asami and make sure he takes good care of her. He still loves her with all of his heart, and it wouldn't be a terrible fate to spend his life with her. At one point he even fantasized about it when the Commission was more willing to drop his bachelor persona.
He doesn't let his mind mull it over too much because the more he circles through the logistics of this union, the more he trips up on the idea of the child that she's holding. If he agrees to her, he agrees to all of her.
"Something on your mind?" Endeavor steps towards Hawks as he towers over the blonde.
"Hum?" Hawks responds weakly as he blinks away the daze that muddles his mind. "Oh, sorry, didn't get much sleep last night," he responds brushing his palm against his face.
"We can return you to UA if you're not up for this tonight?" Best Jeanist offers with a quick side glance to him.
"No, it's fine," he smiles up at the two other heroes. His eyes turn to the green-haired boy who launches himself at the trio with his Black Whip Quirk.
"Looks like rain on the horizon," Deku states with a labored out of breath speech. "Not a lot of villains on the streets right now," he reports to the pro heroes.
"Seems to be a pretty nasty storm," Hawks observes as he looks onto the oncoming clouds. "Not much I can do in this weather," he says as if there was much that he could do in any other weather.
"Smoke screen is handicapped in heavy rain as well," Deku informs, "Though the others work fine enough," he adds as he prepares himself to continue casing the area.
"Deku," Endeavor speaks up, "The storm will ward off villains in the area, as well as kill off some of the flames; we can continue rounding up the prison escapees in the morning."
"It's fine," Deku tells him in a politely dismissive way. "I can take care of this on my own," he says as he turns from the trio.
"Deku, please," Endeavor presses him. "Rest at UA for the night."
"It's no problem! Really!" his cheery voice masks the true exhaustion wracking his body.
He launches himself away from the three pros with his Black Whip Quirk and into the night city. Endeavor finds his chest twisting with an aching knot as he watches the boy swing himself from them. "I'll be back," he says under his breath as he ignites his feet and palms to launch himself into the path of the young boy. Hawks and Best Jeanist stand there frozen as the red-haired hero chases after the boy.
"Deku!" he calls out to him over the winds picking up around them.
"I'm sorry, Endeavor!" he calls back to him, "But you can't be around me for too long! It's too risky!"
Endeavor grits his teeth at the boy's fear for him. How can he be the Number One Hero of Japan if he cowers behind the walls of UA and allows a student to fight his battles.
It is not the hero that he wanted to be.
"You're running yourself ragged, Deku!" he calls out to him as he continues to chase him down.
"I'm alright!" he reassures him as he continues steadfast towards his goal of rounding up the escaped prisoners.
Endeavor realizes that he cannot keep up with the boy who launches himself from the hero, and when soft droplets of water begin falling from the sky, he halts his pursuit on him.
"It's just…" Endeavor speaks to himself, knowing the young boy cannot hear him as he gains distance on him. "I can't watch another promising young man kill himself to be a hero again."
Voicing his concern, Endeavor feels his lip quiver as he stands in the middle of the street and watches the boy disappear into the horizon. He feels his heart twisting in pain as he looks at the dilapidated city that's ignited with the blue flames from the boy that he discarded and left to descend into madness.
Endeavor shoots his head up to the orange lit sky as the rain begins to pick up and drop onto his heated cheeks. He thinks about All Might and how his blind hatred to surpass a man with a stockpiling Quirk that he could never reach strikes him. When he learned about the One For All Quirk, he didn't know how to respond. Suddenly in a single moment did he realize that his lifelong goal of surpassing the Number One Hero was a wasted effort. His labors, his hellish treatment of his wife, his disregard towards Fuyumi and Natsuo, and his revolting trainings with Shouto were deemed futile with the unattainable goal dangling before him.
Then there was how he watched Touya destroy his body daily and wasn't strong enough to do anything about it. He yelled at him, scolded him, and reprimanded him, but he never gave the boy the conversation that he needed to hear. Endeavor never told him that he was enough to him as he was, and that he was watching him all along.
As Endeavor watches another boy destroy his body to pick up the broken remnants of what his successor left behind, he can't escape the failures of his own. He will not allow Deku to become another version of Touya, and will make damn sure that this time, he will stand by the boy.
He is doing this because of Touya—for Touya—in hopes that when the day comes that he faces his son once again, he will not be crippled by the mistakes of his past. He will be able to look onto his son once again and face that judgement like the hero he always strove to be.
With that, Endeavor picks himself up, lighting the flames around his face with a burning determination to be by Deku's side on his way to becoming the next generation's Number One Hero.
After a few hours of casing the surrounding area, Nagant watches the little boy dressed in green through the barrel of her rifle arm. He is quick with his Quirk engaged and she has successfully gathered a good understanding of his movements and predicting his actions. Upon first glance, Nagant sees nothing out of the ordinary from the small kid. He seems like an average teenager that wouldn't cause her much worry or doubt, but with Dabi's words hanging in the back of her head, she reminds herself not to take the boy's power at face value.
When he digs through his pocket for his phone, she readies herself for a warning shot. She isn't allowed to kill the boy according to All For One's instructions, so she will have to make sure the bullet hits him just close enough to show him that despite her miss, his life is very much in danger.
Before his phone can even reach his ear, she takes the shot and swipes the device from his hands. The phone is pinned to an adjacent wall by her hair wrapped around a speaker and shaped into a bullet. "Don't move a muscle, and I'll let you keep your limbs," she warns him through the speaker as the boy is rendered frozen by her close hit.
She tugs on strands of her pink and purple hair, twisting and spinning the thread into another bullet. She feeds the shell into the palm of her hand and readies herself for another shot to incapacitate the boy.
Deku cranks his head ever so slightly over his shoulder to get a good look at his assailant when she notices the movement. "I said 'don't move'," her voice lowers in a threatening tone, activating Deku's danger sense before she can pull the trigger.
He jumps from her path as the trajectory of the bullet whooshes past him, missing him by just a hair. Deku begins launching himself from her war path with his Quirk as shots ring out against the midnight air. Deku looks down at his phone, seeing that it has been destroyed, which will send a notification to All Might and the Top Three that he is in danger. He thinks about Hawks' words to him when the idea of Nagant targeting him was first brought up. His warning of fleeing the scene should she show her face echoes in his mind as his heart beats radically in his chest.
Should the heroes come try to save him, they will be in her line of fire as well. Considering the state that All Might and Hawks are in, they'll be unable to assist Deku in a fight against her. The young boy decides that the best course of action is to put as much distance between Lady Nagant and himself. He reminds himself of every bit of information regarding her Quirk that Hawks gave him. Three-kilometer range, curving bullets, and lightening fast reflexes are all working against him.
Danger Sense itches against his skull as Deku is faced with a bullet flying towards him. She must have curved the bullet when he was focused on evading. He quickly snatches the round, being blown back by the trajectory of it. She shoots again, this time effectively landing a shot on his forearm and destroying his gauntlets. Based on the impact, she's only one-kilometer away, meaning that evading her at this rate will be futile, so Deku decides that he has no other choice but to stay and fight.
Nagant watches as the boy turns his direction towards her with a frown building on her face. She can tell the boy has decided it best to come and face her head one. She wonders if he thinks she's not skilled with close-quarters combat, and she cannot wait to prove him wrong.
She jumps from the building, activating the additional Quirk given to her by All For One and skipping towards the boy who comes to meet her for a fight. She can hear Dabi's voice asking her in the back of her head why she would allow All For One to boobytrap her with a Quirk. She figured taking the boy would be easy, and she'd be left alone once All For One rose to power. She has no desire to be a part of his new world; he's just like those power-hungry dogs at the Commission. When this is all over, she plans to leave here and never be used for any one else's gain ever again; and if the price of that was to take this Quirk, then so be it.
Deku begins using his Quirk to swing through the derelict city as he flings and zigzags himself from one high rise to the next. He is quick, and his movements are more fluid than when he was displaying when Nagant was observing him before engaging him. Had she not accepted Air Walk from All For One, catching after this boy would have proven to be more of a challenge, however, she is able to move more freely with her new Quirk.
She steps on the air, skipping and propelling herself to reach him fast with every backwards blast from her rifle. When she has him in her line of sight, she turns her rifle arm around and strikes him. The single shot rings out against the abandoned cityscape as the boy is hit out of the sky and begins freefalling towards the ground.
A smile reaches Nagant's lips and she continues to boost herself towards the boy with her rifle. She did not strike him fatally, but enough to slow him down.
He lands on the ground, quickly releasing a purple cloud of smoke around his landing point. She grits her teeth at the boy's multiple Quirks, and reminds herself what Dabi said about underestimating the boy. From here on, she will not see him as a young teenager.
The rain is affecting his smokescreen, but not enough considering it's only drizzling in the part of the city that he's evaded to. He probably figured he would need to use this Quirk, and lured her away from the torrential downpour they were just in.
Nagant scans the slowly dissipating purple smoke for the boy so she can line up her next shot. She notices something stirring in the smoke and is quick to make her move. She frowns when she sees her bullet fly through a pile of clothes clustered together using his Black Whip Quirk.
"A decoy?" she questions as she pulls at another string of hair. She searches for his next move when she sees the smoke moving at all angles. "Cheeky brat!" she cries out in frustration as she begins raining down bullets on the boy in hopes to get a shot in. "Hiding in a puff of smoke is a waste of time! I'm still going to capture you!"
Suddenly the boy comes crashing through the rooftop of a building as Deku grabs hold of her. "You might be right… if that was my plan!" he yells back. "A sniper's skills are useless at close range! Give up the fight and tell me where All For One planned on taking me!"
"Not a chance!" Nagant snaps at him, quickly twisting herself out of his grip by retracting her rifle arm, only to place her elbow against his stomach knocking the wind out of him. "The Safety Commission trained me well," she informs him while quickly taking another shot—now being less mindful of his life.
"Why are you helping a monster like All For One?" the boy questions her in a free fall. "He's an evil tyrant hellbent on controlling people! I don't get it! You used to be a hero!"
Nagant sighs with an exhausted puff of air as she thinks about Dabi and his comment on the boy's desire to save everyone. She can hear it in his plea to her that he seeks answers and change, and she's tired of hearing this argument.
"The just world you've been sold is a lie," she tells him with a flat tone as she begins to build distance between them to get a better shot on him. "You've been brainwashed; you'd never understand the truth."
Once she's gained some space she takes her shot again, grazing him ever so slightly to show him that she means business. "I was exhausted," she continues to tell him. "I killed so many. All to keep our citizens in the dark."
Nagant continues to rain down bullets onto Deku while he dances to evade her attacks coming from all directions. She figures if the boy is intent on trying to 'save' her, she might as well inform him of who exactly he is trying to save. He thinks her to be a hero like those in the limelight that he's undoubtedly grown-up idolizing, but she is far from that.
"Say some group was plotting some terrorist attacks against pro heroes? Or a famous hero team worked with a villainous organization on the sly? When someone is capable of shaking the foundation of this society, they can't be tried; the have to disappear quietly. That's where the Safety Commission comes in."
The boy seems shocked and she begins to tell him with a smile on her face all the things that she did under the guise of a hero and the supervision of the Hero Public Safety Commission. She tells him about the pro heroes that she put to rest for simple talks of rebelling against the HPSC. Countless people's lives were ended because of her actions and their commands.
Suddenly, the boy is not looking at her like someone who can be saved and he begins fighting against her rather than evading. He comes for her and begins to fight back, "I understand that the world we live in is not black and white, and there is a gray area of what is right and wrong!" he cries out to her as he's seen it all around him. "That's why I reach out my hand and help those in need! I will not give up on someone who is crying out for help!"
Nagant sneers at his words, wanting none of the boy's nauseating optimism. "You're a product of their indoctrination and nothing else!"
"Deku!" The voice comes crying out from the edge of their battle where both recipients turn their heads towards the source of that call.
To Nagant's shock, it is someone she wasn't prepared to see. A mess of blonde hair peers out a speeding car approaching the fight. Golden eyes hide behind goggles of the same tint as the man calls out to the young boy. Nagant isn't sure why she's shocked that Hawks would be here; he is the Number Two Hero, and All For One did warn her that he was teamed up with this bright-eyed kid. But seeing him in the flesh has her whole body shaking in tremors.
"Hawks! Stay back!" Deku cries out as he continues his pursuit on Lady Nagant.
"If you want to get the advantage on him, give him some collateral damage to consider."
Lady Nagant acts fast, turning her arm from Deku and pointing her rifle towards the blonde that jumps out of the car and runs towards the fight.
She is not a hero and there is nothing left of her to save. She will stand here and be the villain that kills the innocent. She will show Deku that he is no hero, that he cannot save everyone; and when he watches someone die before his very eyes, he will lose that obnoxious sense of wonder with this world.
In that moment she buries down every laugh Hawks pulled out of her belly, every smile he forced onto her lips, every memory of every night they snuck out to talk about their hopes and dreams for the future. Each fleeting recollection of their time passed is buried deep in the pits of her subconscious as she points the barrel of her gun to his head and pulls the trigger.
Hawks' eyes widen when she points the gun at him, having no time to react to the bullet that comes flying his way. Without his wings, he isn't the hero that moves too fast. He is just a target and a means to an end.
Nagant turns to aim her next shot onto the boy, not willing to see the aftermath of her shot as she blinks away the stinging feeling in her eyes. But when her eyes are opened, to the shock of her and to Hawks, he is snatched up by Deku and pulled away from the bullet's path.
Hawks and Deku come crashing down to the ground when he tackles him. Before Hawks can even formulate a response to the boy, Deku is back on his feet and turning his attention back to Nagant.
She sees that her bullet missed and she begins to ready herself for another shot. "We're not over yet!" she yells at him as she shoots another round that is quickly dodged.
He launches himself towards her, stockpiling all of his strengths and various Quirks before using all that he has to hitting her arm. Her barrel bends at the sheer force of his hit, and she knows that there is nothing left of her now.
With her arm tattered and broken like this, she's unable to fight him any longer. She thinks about evading and returning once she's healed up, but where will she go? She hesitated when she saw Hawks, and maybe if she pulled the trigger sooner, she could have gotten the jump on him. But it was clear that she failed because of her sentiment for him once again.
She tries to flee from the boy, bouncing weightlessly in the sky to find a place to hide. She can continue this another time—when her head isn't so muddled with thoughts of the past. But before she can make it even ten steps, she begins to freefall as her Quirk deactivates from her. She closes her eyes and begins to accept her fate.
So, this is the contingency that All For One gave me? No second chances?
Nagant's arm is pulled taut when Deku reaches out his arm to pull her from her freefall. Her eyes open and widen when she looks onto the passionate gaze of the green-eyed boy. "Your bullet may have been pointed at Hawks, but you hesitated to shoot it, giving me time to get to him," he tells her what she already knows. If you really wanted to be apart of All For One's future, your first bullet would have hit my spine and paralyzed me. You've seen the darkness in this world, and know what needs to be brough into the light. It's not too late for you to fight on our side! I know the heart of a hero still beats inside of you!"
Nagant huffs out a chuckle at the boy he truly does have a 'save everyone' mentality. Maybe if there were more people like him, she could have had an amazing career as a pro, but she knows that despite his offer, All For One has other plans for her.
Hawks begins running towards Deku and Nagant with all his might when he sees a glowing light emanating off of Nagant. He watched as she attempted to evade Deku with a weightless walk, so she was foolish enough to accept something from All For One.
"Nagant!" he cries out to her as he lifts himself to the sky with all his might.
The explosion rocks the area around them and he feels a wringing in his chest as he desperately tries to reach her plummeting body through the blowing winds and flying debris. He attempts with all his might to reach her, and when his body crashes into hers a wave of relief fills his chest.
"I won't let you die! You hear me!" he yells at her charred body. "Nagant, stay with me!" he begs her as he looks down on her lifeless face. "Ugh! My wings can't handle this! I can't fly!" he cries out for help.
"I've got you!" Deku responds as he catches the two of them with his Black Whip. But they quickly tumble to the ground when the reach a sloppy landing. "I can't be sure, but I don't think she meant to blow up," he tells Hawks as the blonde lays her carefully down on her back. "All For One gave her that Air Walk Quirk to fight me. He probably added some trap to it in case the fight didn't go as he planned."
Hawks looks down at Nagant, seeing her lips slightly parted and skin cracked open in areas where the implosion broke through, but somehow, she is miraculously alive. His heart pounds against his chest as he sees the charred and burned skin on her face, and is suddenly transported to holding Asami lifeless in his arms as he begged for her to come back to him. She is bleeding all over his hero costume and he knows she won't survive long in the state that she is in.
He wets his lips before reaching out to her with the same sense of dread filling his chest. "Kaina, It's Keigo," he speaks as his sharp golden eyes search for any trace of life left in her. "Please open your eyes and tell me your alright! I know All For One got to you about going after this kid, but we can work past that. If you just open your eyes we can help you!" he tries to reach her as he cradles her head in his arms. "It's not too late for you, Kaina! You don't have to throw your life away because of that!"
Hawks places his gloved hand on her cheek, trying to stir some life back into her face. "I remember the life that you once fantasized about when we were younger," he begins with a more hushed tone. "Remember how we told each other we would be heroes together? That can still happen! This doesn't change that!" he tries to beseech her. "Just open your eyes and you can be the hero that you were always meant to be!" he yells at her. "You're Lady Nagant, damnit! And you are a hero!"
"Kei…" her voice rasps as her lavender eyes try to reach him. "Keigo," she barely manages as she reaches her trembling hand to graze against his cheek.
"I'm right here," he tells her, reaching for her hand and enclosing it in his grip.
"H… how… how are you still smiling? A…after all this time?" she struggles through her broken frame.
He smiles down at her, his lips pulling to the side of his face as he remembers the words that she used to throw at him over their years of knowing each other. "I guess I'm just an optimist at heart," he shrugs with a cheeky grin.
She finds herself smiling back at him as her hand drops from his cheek. "Yeah," she releases with a sigh. "I guess so."
Nagant shuts her eyes and Hawks quickly moves to check that she is still alive. "She's still breathing, but she's lost consciousness from loss of blood," he informs Deku with a now strict and serious tone. "We need to get her to Central Hospital as soon as possible."
"Wow, Hatsume, this prototype is impressive!" Asami says with wide eyes as she assesses the piece of metal between her fingertips. "With enough of these, Hawks will be able to fly like he did before?" she questions hopefully.
"You bet it!" the pink-haired girl happily announces. "It'll be as close as we can get to the real deal."
Asami's father takes the prototype from Asami's hands and examines the metal for himself while Hatsume continues to inform them of her plan for Hawks. "With how many existing feathers Hawks has now, we can estimate that we will need roughly 200 feather prosthetics."
"And how much will that cost?" Kenji questions when he determines the quality of the product.
"Approximately 90 million yen," she informs him and is met with a frown from the purple-haired man.
"Are all 200 feathers necessary?" he asks.
"Dad," Asami scolds, "If she says they are, then they are! You have the money."
"That isn't just pocket change, Asami. If I'm going to invest that much in this boy, I'm going to want to see the breakdown of costs."
"Understandable!" Hatsume says with an enthusiastic smile. "Technically 50 million will get him airborne, but 90 million will have him looking and moving like he did at the peak of his career. I can provide you with a full cost breakdown of materials."
"And these ones can't be burned off by some maniac this time, will they?"
Asami stiffens at her father's words, feeling them to be tactless, considering her and Hawks' condition in the aftermath.
Hatsume informs them that the wings will have a higher melting point than Dabi's flames are reported to have, so unless all his natural wings get burned, Hawks will be able to command the wings against his flames.
Asami takes a deep exhale at that information and tries desperately to push down the memory of that day in the back of her head once more.
"Sounds like a promising item," he smiles at the young girl with a pleased face. "Get me the breakdown and I will have the funds transferred by the end of the week," he says, making a point to look at Asami to not so subtly tell her that he is waiting for their answer to his proposal.
Asami and her father leave Hatsume to her work as they continue on Asami's tour to show Kenji of all the work that she is doing here in Japan. Her hope is that when her father sees just how helpful she's been to the heroes and the war efforts, that he will be less pushy about the marriage and move to America.
It is not that Asami does not want to marry Hawks—in fact, she often daydreamed about it. It's just that she doesn't want either of them to feel forced into this union. She doesn't want Hawks to feel like the only way he can fly again is if he marries someone that he doesn't want to.
"What is next on this adventure you have planned for us?" her father asks her in a condescending tone as she leads them through the passageways that tie Central Hospital to the UA campus.
Asami sighs and bites her tongue from fighting her father. As much as she wants to tell him off and ship him back to America, she has been rendered useless in this scenario as she's completely reliant on her father's money once more.
"Central Hospital," she informs him as they enter the lobby of the clinic.
Her father halts in his stride when she tries to lead him further, causing her to stop and turn around. "I told you not to use your Quirk on anyone, Asami!" her father snaps at her with a stern tone.
"Dad, you're not listening to me," she whines back, "It's not the villainous Quirk you think it is! I'm helping people!"
"I don't care what you think you are doing here, Asami!" he snaps at her as people in the hallways linger on their fight. He watches them, trying to regain his temper as he takes in a deep breath. "You will not use your Quirk on anyone, do you hear me?"
"I am healing people!" she snaps back at him. "For once, I am actually helping people around me!" she says as images begin to blur her vision. "If you taught me more control over my Quirk, I could have saved more people!" she yells at him as the bloodied face of Twice haunts her vision.
When her father opens his mouth to press her even further, they are both brought down from their fight when Endeavor comes crashing through the front door cradling a woman covered in burns and soot.
"Where is Recovery Girl?" the massive pro calls out with a booming voice.
"She's away at Shiketsu High," one of the nurses informs him as she brings in a gurney for the hero to place the woman onto.
"Who do we have on staff to help her?" he questions as various staff members jump in to administer aid.
"Endeavor," Asami runs into action as she quickly places her hands on the woman and immediately begins moving blood from her wounds and back into her heart. "I can help for now while we wait for the professionals to arrive."
"You're stabilizing her," a nurse informs Asami as she administers an I.V. into the woman's burned arm.
Asami smiles to herself as she continues to maintain proper blood flow for the woman. Her father watches with a prominent frown on his face as his daughter uses their Quirk in front of everyone. His only saving grace is that the woman is unconscious and not feeling the effects of Asami using her Quirk on her.
The staff begins moving the gurney to a private room as Kenji and Endeavor follow behind to watch the commotion.
"Endeavor," one of the staff calls out to the hero. "Can you tell us what happened here?"
"Her name is Lady Nagant. She was hired by All For One to fight Deku when she seemingly blew up. Hawks and Deku believe she was boobytrapped by All For One with a self-destructive Quirk of some sorts."
"Are Deku and Hawks okay?" Asami asks him with worried eyes.
"They are fine," he informs her. "Hawks is on his way and should be here any moment."
Asami nods once and focuses on moving the blood of the woman lying before her. She informs the staff of her blood type and blood pressure—something that Vlad King has helped her learn through his trainings with her. Everyone around her is working in unison to clean, stitch and bandage the woman before Asami releases her hold on the woman's blood movement.
She can't help but find herself smiling as she proves herself helpful around the support staff in the hospital, and enjoys the hustle of her surroundings. After being taken by Dabi, Asami longed for that fast-paced work to keep her mind busy, and though Public Relations scratched that itch, she feels herself fully fulfilled helping people like this.
Hawks comes rushing through the doors, covered in the residual blood left from holding Nagant staining his jacket. He runs through the lobby of the hospital until he notices Endeavor and Asami's father looking into a room from the window. He moves to join the two when he turns to look through the window and into the room they are watching.
His eyes immediately land on Asami who has both her hands placed near Nagant's chest directing and controlling her blood from spilling while the rest of the emergency staff work around her to stitch up her various wounds.
He releases a built-up sigh of relief when he sees that Nagant has stabilized under the control of Asami and the rest of the staff.
"I had no idea," Endeavor begins with a bewildered tone. "I never realized Hatsuse could put her Quirk to such amazing use."
Hawks side-eyes Asami's father, expecting to see a glimmer of pride strike his eyes watching his daughter working hard with her Quirk, but he is struck instead with the sight of clear tension in his brows as he watches uncomfortably at his daughter's help.
"She's amazing," Hawks responds to Endeavor, hoping that her father could see her for what she truly is.
"I'm here," one of the healers comes rushing past the three that watch from outside the room and taking over the scene. "Status report?" she asks the emergency staff.
"Bandages are just about complete," one of the nurses informs. "Hatsuse, you can release your Quirk now."
Asami does so with hesitation, waiting for the bandages covering the woman to soil red with blood, but the stitching is completed and keeps her intact. "We can take over from here. Thank you, Hatsuse," the doctor says gratefully.
"Let me know if there is any way I can help further," Asami says with a bow of her head before leaving the room.
She turns from the doorframe, looking up when her eyes reach Hawks' golden gaze watching her. Her heart drops when she sees the stain of blood on his clothes and rushes towards him. "Keigo!" she swiftly reaches for him.
"It's alright," he quickly tells her with palms placed out. "It's not my blood."
Asami hurriedly steps towards him, rushing to his side and crashing herself into his chest. She wraps her arms around his shoulders and pulls him into a tight hug. "Are you sure you're okay?" she asks him with adrenaline rushing through her shaking limbs.
"I'm fine," he reassures her, brushing his palms against her biceps that hug him close to her.
Asami's heart races as she thinks about the woman she just jumped in and helped without thinking. Had she had this much control of her Quirk before, so much of her life and the aftermath of this war could have been different. She can't help but wonder how things could have changed had she done more.
The vision of the burned woman lying lifeless before her had her thinking about her own scars and how helpless Hawks must have felt while she laid lifeless in front of him. She was so desperate to help, and could not understand why Hawks was so quick to give up his wings for her until now. He must have felt so helpless in that moment, and he was so quick to jump in and do whatever he could to help her.
Asami turns her head to Hawks and stares into his golden eyes that pierce into her own. Beads of tears begin forming in the corner of her eyes as she thinks about everything that he has done for her and everything he has sacrificed to make sure she's here today. She's completely captivated by his eyes in this moment, and without overthinking another second, Asami closes the distance between the two of them and presses her lips against his.
Hawks is taken aback by her quick action, almost questioning if it was an accident, but when she makes no point to pull away from him, he places his hand on her cheek and returns the kiss with heated cheeks and a wildly beating heart.
Asami pulls from the kiss, looking deeply into his eyes as her pupils burst to take in every sight of him.
"Stay with me tonight," she says under her breath. Not as a request or as a meek question, but rather as a declaration and desperation to have him be hers once again.