December 30 - Day 18

Tomoyasu casually leaned upon the trailer of his Command Truck, readying up a particular application on his laptop. The early morning winds are cold, especially even more so considering his general position on beachside mansion airstrip and its relative closeness to the sea, but it didn't bother him one bit, not even an ounce of shivering. What matters more is that he gave a mission to Hawks yesterday and he's now about to receive the full digital information regarding it.

It'll be a vast variety of data, ranging from the ones provided by the trackers placed on Hawks's wings, all the way to his satellites, and other various things. And while yes he could have looked at the data while it's actually ongoing, but since he was completely overwhelmed from a whole bunch of tasks yesterday considering Dabi's 'plan' potentially ruining his own plans, he didn't get to have any free time for it.

…

Soon enough a light beep signaled him that the application is ready to go. And with just one press of a keyboard button, the screen suddenly went from mostly blank, to being filled to the brim with folders, audio files, various numbers, and even a live recording of Hawks's travel as captured by his satellites yesterday. All in all it had quite a bit of a cluttered look to it, but to Tomoyasu, it's all just simply beautiful to look at.

But beauty aside, there's just so much to be done. With another press of a button, he then filtered out the results, which significantly reduced the clutter onscreen. Now all that is left are the satellite data. He'll be starting his inspection there.

"Okay what do we have here…?" he muttered to himself upon seeing the full extent of Hawks's flight path on his little mission yesterday. At first glance it all just looked normal, after all the quest is simply: 'Go around Japan and sneakily preach about the concept of Free Quirk Use'. But upon looking closer, Tomoyasu found traces of oddity in it – multiple times Hawks had the chance to take advantage of establishments with huge gatherings of people (like malls and other various shopping centers) along his flight path, but instead he just didn't, like they didn't even cross his mind at all.

Now feeling a bit suspicious of the hero, Tomoyasu quickly minimized the program and then immediately readied up numerous search engines, in which he began searching for any Hawks-related news yesterday. Surely a Top 3 Hero talking about 'Quirk Freedom' should generate enough news-worthy articles and gossip, right?

No.

All he can find are just random minor articles about Hawks and his popularity to the female population of the country, among other similar minor things. There's just literally nothing in regards to his little mission yesterday.

"You sneaky bastard…" Tomoyasu then switched up his searches into that of Hawks's social media. And sure enough, there's nothing in there as well to indicate whatever he did yesterday. All in all it's like the whole mini-quest didn't even happen at all, even though Hawks's seemed very eager and insistent on spreading on the words of Liberation back when he was still issuing the task to him.

"Hmm… okay so let's see what happened to the books I gave you yesterday…" he continued muttering to himself as he kept leaning on the side of the trailer. Now while the books are just 'additional items' to make the whole mission more convincing, he nonetheless still placed hidden trackers on them (ones which Hawks didn't know about unlike the trackers on his wings), just in case they could prove useful.

And looks like it's not the wrong decision after all.

Tomoyasu found the location of the four books through his satellite: One is at the general area of Endeavor's agency, and there's two just within a train station at Hamamatsu, while the final one is now somehow offline – although its last signal indicate that it's within the HPSC Tokyo Headquarters when it went out.

Without wasting any time, he then started searching for any Endeavor and Hamamatsu-related news yesterday, as well as something about the HPSC, regarding the MLW Books.

He found nothing.

"Damn…" Tomoyasu muttered once more, now feeling an odd mix of irritation and curiosity. "Let's hear the audio files…" he added, his attention now focused on the audio data gathered from the tracker chips he implanted onto Hawks's feathers. He immediately played them.

Based on what he could hear from them, Hawks is actually talking about Free Quirk Use, and showing support to it in a very sneaky fashion as to not be so overtly obvious and sound like preaching. The hero continued it throughout his entire mission yesterday. All in all it's quite convincing, if it weren't for the fact that Tomoyasu has the full picture of everything.

After much more analyzing. Tomoyasu finally came to the conclusion that apparently all Hawks did yesterday on his little mission is the bare minimum as to not get caught by the audio-recording tracker chips, and only the audio chips (somehow). And that's it. He didn't really take the mission seriously at all.

…

Tomoyasu narrowed his eyes on his laptop screen, irritation rising, upon confirming that, yes, Hawks is clearly just lying on his eagerness in joining the Liberation. But then this just once again sparks the obvious question of: Is Hawks really a spy?

"But if that's the case then why is he not even wearing any disguises at all? He kept showing off that he's no other than Hawks himself! How could that be a spy?! Why didn't he even bother hiding?! What's the point of it?" he asked himself, fully remembering all the things he already thought about before (and got extremely confused as well) on the plane ride back from Irkalla. "What's even going on…?" he asked again before checking his current satellite data and scanning the country itself.

From there he could see that everything in Japan is apparently just fine (as to the extent he cares about that is). In theory, if a spy has indeed infiltrated the ranks of a grand terrorist organization such as the MLA, then wouldn't the heroes and the military would be already showing signs of mobilization? But there's just nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

The closest there is to 'mobilization', is just the mass internships that went on as a response to the 'Deika City Terror Attack', but even then that's not something to seriously consider.

Scratching the back of his head, confusion ever growing, Tomoyasu quickly went back to his search engines and began looking up anything on recent news about Japanese terrorists and such, but aside from the one he faked and covered up just around two weeks ago, there's just nothing. There's not even any MLA-related news at all!

"There's just nothing at all…" Tomoyasu couldn't help but raise a confused eyebrow. "But could it be that the heroes are already on to me and they just covering their tracks very well?" he asked himself, now feeling light fear and panic welling up within him. But in the end he just quickly dismissed it. If anything he has his own hero crew members out in the field anyways, and they would obviously know if such a plan is already brewing up. And since there are no such reports just yet, he's perfectly fine-

'Now that I think of it… I think I should have tasked a few of my crew out in the field to spy on Hawks yesterday-' Tomoyasu suddenly stopped, realizing that the 'missed' plan probably wouldn't have worked anyways since Hawks will probably notice them. In risky situations such as this, it's just best to NOT underestimate an extremely high-ranked hero in his own playing field.

…

"But still, Hawks is acting strange… is he really a spy or just some obnoxious hero…?" Tomoyasu once more asked himself, in which in the end he eventually figured out an 'idea'. "Hmmm… what if I play along for a bit?" he mused, his thoughts now going over the fact that Hawks technically still has to physically report to him today about his mission yesterday – in which he specified to be at around 10 am at the Gunga Mountain Villa. "Ratting him out on it is out of the picture. Hawks might respond in a very unfavorable manner… Best course of action would be to just play along and see how he reacts…"

Tomoyasu nodded to himself. He wasn't sure about the effectiveness of the plan. But it'll do as of this moment. At least he now knows that Hawks is clearly up to no good, and he's keeping that in mind. "I better bring in some bulletproof outfit for this one, and ready up some defensive crew members at Gunga…" he muttered as he closed the application, as well as the laptop itself, but not before making one quick contact with Frost first to inform him of the upcoming extraction of the third batch.

Taking one deep breath and letting out a sigh afterwards, still feeling slight nervousness, Tomoyasu then straightened himself up and went towards the back end of the Command Truck's trailer. With a quick scan of his fingerprints on the scanner on its right side, it opened, and inside he quickly went. Almost immediately he heard Garaki, who's being annoyingly loud as if he's talking to someone.

And indeed, the old doctor is once more having a chat with Flect Turn.

Tomoyasu couldn't help but just shrug. His little plan is actually still proceeding far better than he initially thought it would be. And it's definitely a very good thing, now that Hawks revealed that he's really not in it for the Liberation and could mean far more…

"Doc… what the hell…?" Tomoyasu immediately asked the moment he moved away the back curtains after closing the back door of the trailer, seeing how ridiculous the old doctor looks - not only the old man's covered in a whole clutter of scientific journals and studies, but he's also literally just wearing a tank top and some beach shorts. All that, coupled with the 'Dark Lord' mask and the general dark atmosphere of the trailer interior, made it ridiculously silly, not to mention informal.

Almost immediately he 'regretted' the decision he made yesterday of allowing Garaki to enter the Command Truck at will, as well as the decision to set up automatic systems for the 'Humarise-Contact' computer to make it easier for the old man to digitally navigate around…

And to make matters even 'worse', the absurdity just doesn't even stop with Garaki, for Flect Turn himself is also in on it – the Humarise leader is literally just in his baby blue pajamas (complete with a nightcap), as well as also littered with science papers. And just like yesterday, he's once again not wearing any disguise at all for some reason.

"Guys… I don't want to sound like a downer or anything… but we're terrorists…" Tomoyasu said, making sure he put on a spare mask that's just lying on a table nearby before going in-camera. Some part of him just wanted to unleash the biggest facepalm he could muster right then and there, but he just managed to hold on. "Look, I know you two are science nerds but come on… can't you two just try to be professional?" he blatantly told them his opinion. It didn't even matter that Flect Turn is there, he just had to say that both of them looked ridiculous. "Only just one day and two are already acting like lifelong pals."

"I never had anyone to talk to with topics like this in over a hundred years, gimme a break!" Garaki complained and waved him off. "Let the science nerds do their thing! At least Old Doctor Clone 2 and Caramel aren't here anymore!"

"It's not like we're bothering anyone, right?" Flect Turn added in a casual tone right after Garaki spoke.

"Well technically it's bothering me…" Tomoyasu sighed afterwards. "But anyways," he turned to the old doctor, "I have another extraction coming up, plus the other issue. I'll just be at the villa for a few hours, if you need anything just give me a quick call. You do still remember the quick-call function of the computer, correct-?" Tomoyasu immediately paused, his mind suddenly thinking about adding something, but in the end he just decided to brush it off. His 'allegiance plan' is already progressing infinitely far better and faster than he initially thought it would anyways. It would be just best to leave the two to their own devices again and hopefully the allying could proceed even faster.

"Right you are, all I need to do is to drag that icon and double-click-"

"Yes yes yes yes, you don't need to tell me the complete procedure," Tomoyasu raised a free hand, stopping Garaki from fully telling him the calling process. "Anyways, I'll be leaving now. Go continue on your nerd talks or whatever," he added as he walked off-camera and headed towards the exit, but not before placing his mask back on the table he got it from.

As he closed the trailer doors, a sudden series of loud noises happened to catch his attention. Looking towards the source, he saw a large group of his crew working on some scaffolding at the very end of the airstrip. They're building a secondary mansion, almost double the size of the original one in the area – all the more better to accommodate all his people once they're all extracted from the Gunga Mountain Villa (and all the more easier for him to pretend that they're actually the Metahuman Suppression Army instead of their original purpose.)

As a whole the construction has only officially started a few hours ago. And while Tomoyasu made sure to include as much crew members as possible with building-related Quirks to work on it, and being under the guide of real engineers and architects (under his regiment) no less, he still estimated the construction would still take about a whole week – especially with all the traps, secret entrances, and other additional building instructions he gave them.

But still, the entire construction just taking a week is extremely favorable as it is.

Tomoyasu instinctively nodded at his crew, before his mind automatically setting back to his original issue. 'Okay… time to figure out Hawks…' he thought to himself as he started to make his way towards the main mansion, greeting Scolopendra along the way – who's once again tasked with maintaining the overall cybersecurity of the Command Truck's systems through a side panel on the trailer, and once again just like last time he still has no idea who he's supposed to be defending from.

While Flect Turn isn't really hacking anymore, Tomoyasu just wants to be sure. He's taking this one very seriously, especially after what Dabi did to his original plan.

And speaking of Dabi…

Tomoyasu noticed him unusually just somehow standing right next to the main back entrance of the mansion, arms crossed, looking as smug as ever, and seemingly looking like he's waiting for him to get there.

The entire sight made the lanky hacker roll his eyes. While indeed Garaki did manage to fully bring Dabi back to normal without any defects yesterday afternoon (as well as making it so that Dabi didn't remember anything about his head being pumped full of bullets), but unfortunately, contrary to what he hoped would turn out, such a reincarnation process did nothing to fix Dabi's extremely self-absorbed attitude, or even affect it in any way. But then again, the old doctor literally just used a tampered (and upgraded) Rewind Quirk after all, the same deal with Curious. Personality remaining unchanged is to be expected.

"I hope you had a very pleasant morning, Dabi?" Tomoyasu immediately spoke ahead as he neared the Elementalist, fully prepared to once more face an extreme amount of arrogance.

"I need a camera," Dabi nonchalantly demanded, once more his tone sounding as if he's the boss of them all.

"A camera?" Tomoyasu's face turned into a mocking grin with one raised eyebrow. "A camera? Really? After how you endangered the entire plan? You're out here asking me for a camera? What happened to your phone, dumbass? You lost it? That brain of yours malfunctioning again and forgetting where things are supposed to be?" he casually retaliated, not an ounce of fear in his system. He's more than ready for this.

"Shut up, I need a camera." Dabi maintained his smug attitude and even took one step forward towards Tomoyasu, as well as raising his right hand to his head-level and igniting it in blue flames. "Do it or else I'll burn you."

"Back to your usual pathetic threats I see…" Tomoyasu couldn't help but just shake his head. Dabi threatening him without any idea of the bigger picture is just absolutely beyond laughable and pathetic. "Is that really all there is to your moronic brain huh?" he taunted in return as he, too, also raised a hand, but instead of flames he instead began doing some unusual hand gestures.

Dabi seemed to deem this as a mockery of him.

"I said I need a camera now. DON'T test my patience…" Dabi taunted further, adding a small swing of his burning hand right in front of Tomoyasu's face, who didn't even flinch at all, and instead just ramped up his 'mocking' hand gestures.

"Dabi, there's a giant plant monster about to eat your head."

"Why you-"

A large monstrous plant spontaneously sprouted from a nearby patch of grass and immediately lunged at Dabi, its Venus Flytrap-like jaws filled with razor sharp teeth aimed directly at his head. What resulted next is a direct hit, and needless to say, the smug Elementalist is instantly killed once again, his head and a small part of his upper torso crushed and eaten, before being spat back out in a bloody mess.

Almost immediately, quite a number of Tomoyasu's crew appeared on the scene, with most of them sporting smug faces of their own as if they enjoyed seeing Dabi get what he deserved. All in all, the 12 of them have either one of two types of Quirks – Fire-counter-Quirks and Instant-Kill Quirks. They're part of a temporary group made by Tomoyasu himself with a simple task to secretly watch over Dabi ever since he got brought back from the dead and sent here, as well as report any changes in personality (in which there have been none).

"Good job crew, now get this idiot parked at the exit of the Command Truck. Make sure Garaki sees it as he exits," he ordered the crew, as well as also telling them to NOT disturb whatever's going on inside said truck.

As he finished ordering, the crew nodded and began cleaning up the mess that is the headless corpse of Dabi laying in front of the back mansion entrance. "And also, crew? After this all of you go patrol around the perimeters. Keep the area safe," he ordered one last time before closing the door behind him.

Wasting not a single second, Tomoyasu began walking towards the other side of the mansion, where the helicopter pad is. There were crew members along the way, with some of them openly flaunting their Irkalla keychains to each other at the midst of their other ongoing tasks, but he spared them no more than a light greeting. He has much more important things to do.

As he reached halfway through the mansion (getting himself an unnoticeable bulletproof undershirt along the way), he then felt a strange presence as if someone is now walking very close to his right. And as what he expected, it was Glitch – his newly purchased Valkyrie. Tomoyasu didn't mind her at all, in fact he's actually quite impressed that the woman-like bioweapon actually managed to stay put in one place while he's out of her sight for over an hour.

"Hmm… I didn't order you to get up and follow me, and yet you still stood up and followed…" Tomoyasu muttered to himself, one part of him thinking if the Valkyrie just forgot her order to stay put, and another just thinking that she just probably automatically went after him because she hasn't seen him in quite some time. Either way, at least she didn't bother him while he's busy thinking about what to do with Hawks.

'Okay… now where were we?' Tomoyasu raised up his laptop and sent out orders towards Turtleneck, Blockhead, and a whole bunch of his other crew to prepare the extraction helicopters once more, as well as giving them a general briefing about his own thoughts with Hawks and how he'll be staying at Gunga for a couple more hours. But before he could turn off the contact program, he suddenly had another slew of ideas: Tomoyasu sent out one more additional message to Relevant and ordered him to be part of the extraction crew, as well as giving additional instructions for the pilots regarding the approach path to Gunga Villa.

After a few more minutes of walking, Tomoyasu eventually reached the other side, and out he went through the huge wooden door. Almost immediately he's greeted by another set of strange sounds which made him turn to the right.

Apparently, for some reason, some of his crew that have finished their tasks early (which is quite impressive even for Tomoyasu) are now somehow just washing up and cleaning his Paragon Mini-Dreadnought – which is just standing still as it's being splashed on by water from multiple hoses.

"Crew, I'm not really annoyed here or anything but… what's the point of cleaning that thing up?" Tomoyasu asked the cleaning crew members as he walked up, noticing the odd fun his people are seemingly having. "You people do know that's a Mini-Dreadnought, right? It doesn't need any cleaning. Or did you all not know of it?"

He's quickly answered by a whole bunch of responses about how Battle machines need to look good on-camera while they're unleashing carnage upon their foes.

Tomoyasu just blinked twice and raised an eyebrow, not really understanding the point. But still, "okay, carry on." He shrugged, feeling a little bit creeped out how his Desolator Dreadnought's head is just continuing to face him. While yes the entire thing technically belongs to him and follows his every word, but still he couldn't help but feel uneasy under the gaze of an unstoppable killing machine. There's just something unnerving about it. "Anyways, I'll be off for a few hours tops. Just go clean up its garage afterwards," he ordered before turning towards his Valkyrie. "You, on the other hand, I want you to once again stay in the living room and wait for me. I'd rather not let Hawks see you."

Glitch nodded in response, and in she immediately went back into the mansion.

Tomoyasu instinctively nodded at the sight. But then afterwards, a random thought played out in his head about the nature of developing Valkyries and their need to stick close to their masters as much as possible to better adapt their personality to them. He then realized the fact that he's not been with Glitch for quite some time now, and he's still continuing to 'stay away' from her. "I think I need to-" he then brushed the thoughts off. At the end of the day, there's still more than enough time for 'Valkyrie-Bonding' anyways.

Hopefully.

With a deep breath to further clear his thoughts, he then went on his way towards the helipad, where his crew members have now gathered up and waiting for him.

"Alright, crew. Three helicopters. Silence them all. Let's move."

Once again the helicopter trip didn't take too long. The entire flight is just smooth sailing. Although this time, with the looming 'threat' of Hawks acting a bit too odd, the actual approach itself took a different method – utilizing the nearby mountainous terrain to effectively hide the choppers from sight, as well as landing a significant distance away from the villa itself.

While yes Hawks may not be there yet - a fact confirmed by Tomoyasu's current Gunga crew, but he just wants to be extra sure. Dealing with a top hero definitely requires a whole bunch of extra precautions.

"Relevant," Tomoyasu turned to the gas-mask wearing crew member just across his seat. "You'll be doing some transport duties," he added as he stood up and went down the helicopter and onto the grassy ground below, all while making sure his laptop is still with him. "I have contacted Frost. Batch 3 is ready." He then turned back to the other landed aircrafts, "contact me once the entirety of batch 3 is here," he said before repeating the exact same things he just said to really make sure everyone understood it. He also specified that, just like yesterday's Gunga mission, the helicopter he rode on must remain and await his return.

After receiving a bunch of agreeing nods and other similar statements from his crew, Tomoyasu nodded back at them before turning to face Relevant, who's now beside him. "Let's move."

Almost immediately Tomoyasu felt himself slowly rise up in the air, as solid black mist slowly congregated on the bottom of his shoes, lifting him up alongside Relevant himself. After another quick order via hand gestures, the gas-masked crew member began moving the gas-like solid platforms they're stepping towards the Gunga Mountain Villa, slowly picking up speed as they traveled over the forest canopy.

And as once again with his past visit, the entire thing is basically 'empty'. Everyone is once again conveniently underground while the leaders are out 'planning' – an extremely easy thing for him to arrange considering he's the one masquerading as Shigaraki's mouthpiece, and therefore anything he says, they'll follow.

"Spare the pleasantries," Tomoyasu said as he and Relevant finally reached the group of crew members awaiting extraction. There's just no more time for greetings. "Okay Relevant? You know what to do-" he stopped for a moment as if remembering something. "Also, once you're done transporting these people, return to me afterwards."

"Copy that, Skeptic," came Relevant's reply before waving a hand, generating solid mist upon the feet of the crew members comprising the third batch, slowly lifting them up, and eventually leaving altogether.

Taking one deep breath, Tomoyasu turned his attention to his laptop and did one quick check of the time, before continuing towards the direction of the empty-looking villa.

He kept walking further in, past the marble fountain, and onto the roofed exterior hallways, before checking the time again as he waited for Relevant – who eventually reappeared a few minutes later. "Relevant, I'll be putting you on guard duty. Remain within the general vicinity, just in case…" his voice trailed off as he raised up his laptop and began pressing a few keys on it. "There, I have arranged a small makeshift anti-Hawks defense squad located at 36L-P-52, go meet the others there. And just stay there until I give the signal. I'll be waiting here until that pesky winged hero arrives-" Tomoyasu stopped, realizing something he also wanted to be said. "And also by the way, by 'signal' I mean all of you are on 'Full-Defense' mode – try to defend me while staying out of sight. And if anything goes wrong, you all have permission to go for the kill."

Relevant nodded, before walking away towards the interior of the villa.

Tomoyasu nodded as well. "Here we go…" he muttered to himself as he raised his laptop once more. After pressing a button to confirm and allow the departure of the third batch, he then checked on his satellite data – specifically on Hawks, to see if he's already on his way to Gunga. But as it turned out, the Number 3 is still right in the middle of Kyoto, and in no way in a rush.

And once again just like what the data told him earlier, Tomoyasu noticed that the hero is just once again relatively near a huge shopping mall, and he's not 'taking advantage' of it again. Same story as last time.

"Hmmm…" Tomoyasu narrowed his eyes at the screen for a good while before looking at the time yet again. 'There's still quite some time before 10 am. Hawks won't be here anytime soon,' he thought to himself as he closed his laptop.

He will just have to wait.

Tomoyasu, in the middle of clacking his fingers on the keyboard and mapping out some future plans, suddenly heard the laptop speakers emit multiple high-pitched beeps. In response, he immediately pressed a particular button with a unique icon on the far right side of the keyboard.

"Skeptic, Slide N' Go is here, he says he wants to meet up with Hawks. Shall we stop him?" It was Relevant, as shown by his profile picture appearing alongside the message. "He said he just wants to remind Hawks with something about rank and permission."

Tomoyasu thought for a bit, wondering what could potentially happen (and go wrong) if ever the hero spotted the PLF mouthpiece here at Gunga. It took him a while, but he eventually just shrugged it off. "Fine, let him be. I can handle it," he typed back, keeping his eyes glued upon the screen for the next few seconds afterwards to see if there would be more messages to come, and upon seeing there are no more, he then checked the time once more.

It's almost 10am…

Closing his laptop, Tomoyasu then turned his attention towards the skies up front, leaning his back against a wall as he seeked to find any red dot rapidly approaching his location.

After just a whole minute, a red dot did indeed appear. And in a few moments afterwards, Pro-Hero Hawks has arrived.

Almost immediately upon the winged hero landing, Slide N' Go suddenly appeared from nowhere to immediately go have a chat with him, speaking loudly and proudly and in a manner as if he's lecturing the Number 3 hero.

Meanwhile as for Tomoyasu; instead of showing up, he decided to observe from the shadows for a little while, narrowing his eyes on Hawks and inspecting his every move, aiming to get at least some confirmations on the hero's real goals based on his replies to Slide N' Go. But quite unfortunately, the purple-clad hero is just speaking too loud for him to make out anything Hawks says in response. If anything it just made him wish that he should've just gotten someone from his regiment to actually talk with Hawks. At least they won't be as loud-mouthed as the current guy.

But too bad the opportunity is gone.

Needless to say, Tomoyasu is ticked off about the 'failure'.

But still, his mission for today must proceed, and no amount of failure should hinder him in any way. After one tap of his laptop keyboard to alert his crew that Hawks is now present, he finally stepped out into vision. "Slide N' Go…" he immediately muttered in a low tone barely concealing his annoyance, and utterly surprising the low-ranking hero. "Quit your yapping. You may outrank Hawks here, but the Number 3 can go much much deeper into the hero side than a standard grunt like you could ever hope to be... Current locations, call records, real-time contents of conversations – Hawks can provide it all…" his voice trailed off for a bit. "But of course part of the scouting information is also thanks to the numerous micro-chips installed on his wings, courtesy of yours truly… To make matters short, he's much more of an asset than you'd ever be. Get back in line." Tomoyasu stopped himself from uttering out a real threat. He has a fake image to maintain – especially in front of Hawks.

"S-Skeptic?!" Slide N' Go blurted out, absolutely shocked at Tomoyasu's presence. "I… I-uh- I… I could spy on the heroes too as well as Hawks can! C-could you maybe ask our n-new Grand Commander if maybe I can head out?" he asked, seemingly nervous. But whether it's from seeing Shigaraki's mouthpiece, or just because he got embarrassed in front of Hawks, it didn't matter to Tomoyasu at all.

"Request denied. Shigaraki himself told me that everyone should stay within Gunga. No one would head out. Satellite footage is enough. Hawks is the only exception to the rule."

"But-"

"Are you doubting Shigaraki's trust on me? Are you doubting HIM?" Tomoyasu took one step forward and raised his voice to make his act being Shigaraki's deluded follower more convincing. After all, Hawks is watching, and he'd rather just make the hero think he's as stupid as the rest instead of being the real mastermind all along.

"N-no! I'd just-"

"Leave." Tomoyasu paused a bit. "Also don't tell anyone the mouthpiece is here, Shigaraki's orders!" he raised his voice again before sending the hero scampering away, presumably to go back to the underground section. Afterwards he then turned to Hawks, his facial expression lightening up, "hmmm… I see you have returned. Shigaraki would be very pleased to know that a top hero is actually within our ranks. Alright, Hawks. Report. Tell me about your mission. What did you see?"

Tomoyasu himself is not sure whether the chat he's about to have with Hawks would prove any useful in figuring the hero out. But still, he'd rather try some things out. "I may have tracked your progress throughout, but I want a good solid report still," he added as he leaned once more on a nearby wall, making himself look as calm and relaxed as possible.

"Skeptic…" Hawks shook his head, grinning confidently to himself as he held on to his canned coffee. "I did a damn good job yesterday. The Liberation is a neat and unique concept, you know? Freedom and all that. People don't deserve to be trapped in shackles…"

Tomoyasu just listened to Hawks talk on about his yesterday quest, and about the entire emission as a whole, and about how he strived to reach out as many people as possible, and how he sneakily relayed to them the concept of Quirk freedom…

So far so good…

But then…

"And on some of my trips I even went into nearby malls! They're jam-packed I tell you, last-minute New Year's shopping! Needless to say, lots of people flocked to the good ol' Number 3 and got a good dose of sneaky LiberatIVE Principles, if you catch my drift. But of course, not all malls I need to enter because that would just take too much of my time and I'd rather be as efficient as possible…"

Tomoyasu didn't even hear anything Hawks said further, for his mind is now too drowned out by legions of metaphorical alarm bells going off inside his head. But still, amidst the mental turmoil, he managed to give out an appropriate, normal-sounding reply. "Splendid. Impressive feat there, Hawks. Shigaraki would be very pleased to have you as part of us." He made sure it came off as natural, in which he did manage to do so. Hawks took it fine before continuing on his report.

Tomoyasu just continued listening, yet his mind are already forming all kinds of thoughts. 'He's not into Liberation at all! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!'

Doing his best as to not turn his facial expression into a suspicious one, he then sneakily half-opened his laptop to press in a button while Hawks is not looking – alerting his crew to heighten their defensive measures and be ready to act within a second after being called in. Things are escalating. But still, he just continued listening in and replying normally along the way to Hawks's stories – who's now talking about the interesting highlights of his 'Little Liberation Adventure' yesterday or so he says: fan shenanigans, people reacting to his presence, and various other similar things. Overall the entire story is relatively normal, except for the fact that Hawks didn't say anything as to why there are no news outlets that talked about his nationwide trip, nor anything about the silence in social media, which just made him even more suspicious for Tomoyasu.

But although as much as he would like to ask Hawks about it, he decided to just play along for a while, pretending to be ignorant, hoping to get more possible slip-ups to really confirm his suspicions.

"Oh and about those MLW books you gave me? I gave them away to high-ranking heroes no less! I'm expecting a domino effect to go down in a few months tops!"

"Wonderful, Hawks. Just splendid…" Tomoyasu nodded as he straightened his posture up, holding his laptop to his side. He was about to continue, but then suddenly a brilliant idea entered his mind. "Say… since you're already here, why don't you tell the rest of the PLF lieutenants about your whole mission? I'm sure they would be more than pleased to hear about it all as well. It wouldn't be fair if the mouthpiece is the only one who got to hear it, right?" he said, aiming to get Hawks into talking even more, and maybe it could cause even more suspicious inaccuracies to surface for him to spot.

"Fine by me. Lead the way!" Hawks replied in an excitable voice, accompanied with a thumbs-up gesture, before downing in canned coffee in one go and tossing the tin can on a nearby trash can.

"Good. Follow me." Tomoyasu turned around and started walking into the mansion, eventually going towards the general direction of where he specifically arranged the panning room would be for today.

As the both of them walked through the silent corridor, Hawks would occasionally make comments about the weather and some other small talk, but nothing too much to count as suspicious, but even then, Tomoyasu would still sneakily open his laptop every few minutes to press a button as a reminder to his defense crew to be on constant high alert for him.

"This place is really nice, huh? Big ol' mansion, quiet mountains, tons of privacy… what else is the better terrorist hideout?"

"Agreed, Hawks, there is no other better place than this. Plenty of spaces to stash supplies as well for holing up for extended period of time-" Tomoyasu immediately stopped when he heard a series of odd sounds as if rubber-padded metal is clanging onto wood, slowly getting progressively louder as if something's approaching. Turning his head towards the sound, he saw the tip of a crutch. Moving his eyes upward, he saw quite a familiar woman, with her right arm and left leg encased in a cast.

"Miss Skywalker, what is it now?" Tomoyasu couldn't help but roll his eyes. While yes the woman's sudden presence is quite odd, but right now he's not really in the mood to get ticked off by her. If anything he should be escorting Hawks to-

Tomoyasu froze a brief while before suddenly leaning in and narrowing his eyes on the ushanka-wearing woman, only now noticing that her face looks quite similar to someone else. "I have decided that I hate you now, Miss Skywalker," he blurted out, his tone switching into blatant annoyance. "Not because you're currently blocking my path or anything. No. I hate you now because I find you looking quite similar to… Nagant… the facial structure, facial symmetry, the eyebrows…"

"Oh! Uh, I get that a lot. It's quite a compliment, really," Skywalker waved it off with her left unbroken arm. "So I was just wondering if-"

"I don't have time for this. Me talking to you is just further reminding me of that stupid hero's ridiculous popularity. I mean how in the HELL did the one sentence she said back in December 25 is still being repeated on the news?! HOW?! WHY?!" Tomoyasu stopped and quickly straightened himself, managing to calm himself down before he could go on a full ranting spree. "Heroes these days…"

"Yeah," Hawks chuckled. "I may be a popular hero myself, but Nagant? She's just ridiculous! She has legions of fans!" he then turned to Miss Skywalker, "how about you, do you also have opinions on her?"

"Me-? I don't really think about her too much."

"You know… Now that I think of it, you do look exactly like Nagant! Hey Skeptic, why don't we dress this here fella up and send her to spy on the heroes as well? It'll be both funny and beneficial to the cause at the same time." Hawks snickered to himself, in which Miss Skywalker just reacted with an annoyed look. "Look! Two Nagants!"

Tomoyasu shook his head. "I'd rather not deal with the absurdity of having two Nagants. One is already enough to get the country dancing like monkeys, two would be an absolute circus." He then narrowed his eyes once more on Miss Skywalker. "Whatever your question is again, I don't care anymore. Hawks, let's move."

And with that, Tomoyasu moved off, away from Miss Skywalker, and with Hawks trailing behind him.

…

After about five minutes, they eventually reached a particular area in the mansion. "We change planning rooms every now and then. This is our planning room for the day." Tomoyasu pointed towards the nondescript double door in front of them. "Alright, now allow me to get there first and introduce to them the quest I gave you yesterday. And then you come in and give them another rundown. Understood?"

After receiving a confident nod, Tomoyasu then proceeded into the room. It was completely unlocked, as what he expected considering the people inside are just either spineless wimps, and those who don't even have the absolute slightest idea what they're supposed to be doing.

Either way, almost immediately the occupants of the dark room perked up and turned to look at him. And needless to say, they're all shocked to see 'Shigaraki's Mouthpiece' suddenly showing up. "Spare the pleasantries, ladies and gentlemen," Tomoyasu spoke out loud as he raised a free hand, lightly wondering why the room is so dark (and why everyone's arranged on a semi-circle on the round table). But the one thing that stood out to him is the empty seat on Re-Destro's right side, which is normally occupied by Geten.

But whatever, the young elementalist's not important for now.

Tomoyasu then loudly cleared his throat, and took one deep breath, before speaking out a quick hastily-made-up Shigaraki-related excuse as to why he's there - which easily worked considering how dumb the people are inside. Afterwards, he stepped aside and gestured for Hawks to come enter. "Grand Commander Shigaraki wanted to test the loyalty of our newest recruit, and so tasked me to give him a mission yesterday. Said mission he also specifically requested that you all not know of it until it's done…" he said, pausing a bit before continuing on his speech and telling everyone the main goal of the mission.

Tomoyasu made sure to minimize the details so Hawks wouldn't run out of things to say once he passes over the speaking role to him.

More talking means more potential to spot out inaccuracies after all…

"Also, before Hawks would start his report. I'd like to remind you all that Grand Commander Shigaraki once again specifically said that he doesn't want anyone leaving Gunga villa. Understood? We should all just stay put to minimize our signature until his return." Tomoyasu then gestured for Hawks, who's now beside him, to start talking. As the hero started with his introductions, Tomoyasu instead further walked into the room, eventually taking Geten's empty seat beside Re-Destro, and lightly shoving away the pre-placed laptop already there and replacing it with his own. At the same time he also sneakily aligned his laptop in such a manner so that Re-Destro won't see what's on his screen - which is now currently open on a program to let him spy on the other nearby laptops.

Apparently, as what he saw, the PLF lieutenants are just looking at 'satellite footage' and 'spying on the heroes'. Tomoyasu couldn't help but sneakily grin at the sight, seeing how easily fooled everyone is into thinking that the looped satellite footage from last year August is the real deal. But then again, if everyone in the room is so dumb and easily manipulated, it's not really that much of an achievement.

Hawks, on the other hand, is now amidst of talking about his mission from yesterday. And as with earlier, he talked with a very convincing tone. Naturally, everyone present (except Tomoyasu of course) is entertained, with not a single one even questioning or being suspicious of a random top hero suddenly popping up within their ranks.

…

Tomoyasu just kept pretending to listen as Hawks went onwards with his story, his mind ready to pick out inaccuracies-

"Hokkaido is just damn too cold especially in this time of the year…"

Tomoyasu's eyes instantly shot wide open once he heard Hokkaido. By all means he saw Hawks's flight path across Japan just this morning, and Akita is the northernmost prefecture he got to. The hero never reached Hokkaido…

He listened some more, noticing a steadily-increasing number of false information Hawks is spewing out in regards to the locations he visited – the hero is now humble-bragging about visiting Kyushu, when in reality he never went lower than Hiroshima…

'Only half of what he said about the locations he visited is true… even then the truthful segments are filled to the brim with minor inaccuracies…' Tomoyasu gritted his teeth, his fingers slightly clenching themselves. 'He's definitely a spy… deliberately fooling everyone…'

…

"About that book you've been passing out to the heroes… Not only did you read it thoroughly, but you also really get the Destro-ness. It's obvious that you took it seriously indeed," Re-Destro spoke, his voice low and sounding utterly confident in Hawks's abilities. He's then followed by Trumpet. "With a walking billboard like you, Liberation ideology will spread quickly. Winning over your base of teens and 20-somethings would definitely be great for us," the politician said.

"We're not even on the commission's radar yet! They're currently investigating the League's involvement in the Deika City incident, but so far they're stumped on it!" Hawks continued.

Tomoyasu instantly swallowed hard upon hearing that, his nervousness skyrocketing. With all the blatant wrong data Hawks just told them, it's very much already obvious that the his line about 'not being on the commission's radar yet' is ALSO blatantly false.

…

They're spotted… The heroes already knew…

…

"That's good, Hawks, you may go," Re-Destro sent Hawks off the room, in which the hero quickly followed and left. And after that, everything inside the room then went back to normal, with the LoV discussing whatever topics they want, as well as wondering about Dabi's absence.

But as for Tomoyasu, it's an absolute disaster. The heroes have spotted them. The PLF is done for. Dabi screwed him over. No turning back. His minor optional plan to ally with Humarise is now mandatory if he ever wants his goals to have a chance of succeeding. And while the heroes are still somehow not even mobilizing yet, but the point is that the PLF is now detected – and that means Tomoyasu cannot take his sweet time for the final set of preparations anymore, the heroes have now taken hold of it.

Overall it's NOT good-

Tomoyasu heard a light beep from his laptop. Almost immediately he decided to check it, hoping that it's something positive to at least help ease his mind.

!

'Skeptic, Hawks is eavesdropping.' It was a message from Frost, with an attached photo of Hawks just leaning beside the planning room double door, and another one of a zoomed-in shot of a red feather lodged between said doors. It also has an additional message theorizing that the hero could have a camera planted on the edge of said feather to let him record things.

…

Tomoyasu froze, his eyes twitching for a few seconds, trying his best not to facepalm hard.

'Shit…'

Notes:

I've always wondered how Hawks managed to spy into the PLF so easily. The guy didn't even bother with a disguise! He literally just walked in and that's it! Easy spying!

But seriously, jokes aside, it's really strange why Hori decided to portray the MLA to be so incredibly passive over everything. You can wipe half of them out and it's just fine to them. You can take out the publisher of their holy book and it's just fine to them. You can boss them around and it's just fine to them. You can walk in as a hero without any disguises and it's just fine to them. You can get yourself tracked with multiple satellite-assisted trackers and you can still set up a massive ambush against them...