Diving, wings close to his body, Hawks plummeted out of the sky and back toward the city. The afternoon sun lit the skyscrapers and other buildings, the mirrorlike windows, reflecting his own image back to him in a blur. The villain he had been fighting did the same, arms outstretched as laser beams blasted her through the air from the soles of her feet. Hawks barrel rolled out of the way as a laser beam scorched by, nearly giving his ear a new piercing. It did manage to cut off a lock of his hair.

Twisting, Hawks kept diving, speeding up as he pushed himself to the limit. The villain was fast, but Hawks, as always, was faster.

As they started to fall past skyscrapers, Hawks detached half of his feathers and sent them soaring back at the villain. The lasers cut through half of the feathers but five snagged her by the back of her long jacket and tall boots. Hawks let his wings catch him, extra feathers helping out at certain points so the whiplash of the quick stop wasn't so bad.

As the villain went zooming by him, Hawks watched, following her descent as she stared back at him, eyes widening. He focused on the feathers that were attached to her. With deft control, he yanked her to the side and sent her crashing into the top of a decorative tree. Hmm. He didn't want to hurt her too much, but then again, she had just mugged a lady on the street. He pulled her back out of the tree just as fast as he sent her flying into it. She lolled in midair, the lasers that emitted from her hands and feet sputtering out.

It looked like he had knocked her out.

Hawks lowered himself and the villain to the ground. People were starting to emerge from hiding places now that the threat had been neutralized. The buildings and street were scored with scorch marks from the villain's lasers.

As he landed, right foot hitting the ground first, Hawks noticed a flash of white in the corner of his vision. He almost let the villain drop. Catching her with his feathers at the last moment, he set her down somewhat gently and then spun toward the white wings.

It had been almost a week and a half since he had seen Akane Hirano. Well, last time he had seen her at a crime scene. He had flown by the bookstore once while responding to a scanner report. She had been working. Hawks had waved at her with both hands as he darted by.

He had hoped that she had listened to him and decided to stay away from the pro hero scene. He knew better than most how the hero system worked, and he had taken a glance at her Quirk report in the database. She was listed as having a flight Quirk that also allowed for minor healing. Something about her feathers having a healing factor, he wasn't sure. However, she wasn't supposed to be able to heal to the degree he had seen. Her Quirk was supposedly limited to small cuts and bruises. That hornet sting of his she had healed had been a serious injury, and she had healed it without a problem. She had lied when reporting her Quirk.

If the HPSC knew, it was a miracle they hadn't ordered someone to bring her in yet.

With the police closing in and the villain unconscious, the scene was secure. Hawks walked into the nearby alley, hands in his pockets. He was about to ask if she had gotten her license yet to get a rise out of her, but he stopped, his feathers alerting him that something was off. The scent of burnt skin and clothing hit him hard.

Hirano was kneeling down next to an older teenage girl, her hands on the girl's abdomen. She wasn't wearing the mask she normally pulled up over her face. A subtle light covered her wings and spread up her neck and down her arms, glowing in lines through her shirt. The light ran over her hands to her fingers and brightened as she pressed down on the gaping laser wound in the girl's side. It started near her left hip and went upwards for four or so inches.

"What can I do?" Hawks asked, kneeling down beside the girl. She was pale and still.

Hirano didn't look up from what she was doing. "Can you check her pulse?"

Hawks immediately put two fingers against the girl's neck and checked the watch on his wrist. "It's fast and thready."

Hirano nodded. The glow around her hands brightened as the light around her wings faded. Her shoulders rolled back.

The wound was closing. The skin was regrowing, the damaged organs repairing, muscles knitting back together.

Hawks glanced up at Hirano. She was breathing harder, her face scrunched in pain. Was her Quirk hurting her? "Hey, what's wrong?"

"I…" She let out a quick breath. "I'll explain later."

He nodded. He didn't want to distract her from what she was doing. The girl was starting to get some color back into her face and arms, and her eyelids were starting to flutter.

The ambulance siren was getting louder. The police would show up along with the ambulance. Hawks took the girl's pulse again as the wound completely closed, leaving a raw pink scar behind. "Her pulse is improving."

Hirano sat back, her bloodied hands beginning to shake as the adrenaline wore off. She wiped them off on her jeans, not seeming to care if she ruined them. "Good." She was still calm, as she always seemed to be when he saw her working. "She still needs to go to a hospital. To get checked out. One of the laser beams—I thought she was going to die."

"Doesn't seem like that anymore." Thanks to her. The teenager twitched, a whimpering noise escaping her. He took one of her hands and squeezed it, trying to comfort her. "You're all right. Just lay still."

Hirano got to her feet, still holding her hands away from herself.

"Take it easy," Hawks said to her.

She nodded once and moved back so that she could lean against the wall. He watched her, wondering if she was all right. What was the cost of her Quirk? Everyone's Quirk had some kind of overuse side effect. She had to have one too.

The girl on the ground blinked awake. "Hawks?"

"The one and only. How're you feeling?"

Her eyes filled with tears. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to get in the way."

"You didn't! You didn't get in the way, I'm sorry I didn't see you," he said, squeezing her hand.

"It's okay, there was an angel," she said, "She helped me."

"Oh, an angel, huh?" Hawks said, a smile quirking up the corner of his mouth. When he looked over at said angel, she was giving him a hard look, as if she could read his mind. What a good hero name for a white-winged healing redhead. "Maybe you were seeing things."

"No, she was here. I need to thank her."

"I'm sure the, um, angel knows."

Hirano was off to the side, and the girl's focus was on Hawks. Hirano kept moving away, sliding along the wall, not touching anything. She needed to get out of here. Hawks widened his eyes at her, trying to silently indicate that she should take off. She didn't. He tried the two-tone whistle. Now she tossed a frown his way and shook her head.

What? What was that supposed to mean?

The sirens were wailing now. Through his meandering feathers, he could hear that his sidekicks had also shown up. It was rare for them to catch up with him.

His eyebrows came together as Hirano ducked down behind a trashcan. What. Was she doing.

Wait, could she not fly anymore?

Hawks had to keep anyone from coming down the alley and spotting her. They were used to seeing a white-winged woman leaving and hearing reports about first aid and a healing Quirk, but no one had actually gotten a good look at her.

"Can I pick you up? I think the paramedics are here," he said to the girl.

She sat up. "I think I can walk, if you can help me…"

Hawks slipped an arm around her and used a few feathers to lift her farther, making it easier for her to move. Her dark braids slipped over her shoulder as she started to look back, so Hawks gently hurried her forward.

"Whoa, you're still here?"

"Told you. Pay up."

Hawks lifted his head to find two of his sidekicks on the scene, Orville and Magneboy. Orville wore a bird-like mask and had a telekinesis Quirk. He was currently bobbing the villain in midair. Magneboy had metal rings along his arms that he could control with magnetism. He was using them now to create a perimeter to keep civilians back.

"Can one of you take her to the ambulance?" he asked with a small smile. "And do I get a cut of the bet?"

"I'll buy you some dango later," Magneboy said as he took the girl from Hawks. "Where are you going?"

"There's another injured civilian," he said, lying as easily as he breathed. "I'm going to fly her directly to the hospital." Easiest way to get Hirano away from the scene was to fly her out.

"Oh, okay," Orville said, "We'll handle things here."

Hawks gave a cheesy double thumbs up as he started walking backwards toward the alley. When he reached it, he took off his jacket, the Velcro peeling apart from the way it wrapped around his wings. He sent a couple feathers ahead to show Hirano he was coming. She was still hiding behind the trashcan.

Her eyes were tired as he crouched in front of her. Carefully, he reached over and wrapped his jacket around her and her wings, mostly hiding them. "You can't fly, can you?"

Hirano hesitated and then shook her head. "I'm sorry." She hunkered down smaller, her arms wrapping around her knees. Her wings drooped against her shoulders. She looked so tired.

Hawks shook his head. "Don't be. Let me take you home? Or to a hospital yourself?"

She gave a soft snort. "I'm not hurt, Hawks."

"Then at least let me take you to your apartment." He glanced to the side, back toward the mouth of the alley where all the commotion was still going on. "Before people get curious. They're used to me taking off when I'm on patrol but they'll start wondering if I stay too long."

Hirano tilted her head to the side. Slowly, she stood and took a tottering step toward him. Hawks jumped up and reached for her, taking her by the elbow. She leaned against him.

"I didn't know your Quirk exhausted you so much," he said, bending to pick her up. She was shorter than him by a few inches. Most people with wings tended to be on the shorter side. "Hold on and pull my jacket over your head to keep out the wind, okay? I'm going to go fast so people don't really see you."

She looped her arms around his neck, moving the jacket up so it protected her ears. Her cheeks were red. "I'm sorry—"

"You don't need to apologize, promise," he said, holding her tight. He took off, and she hid partially inside the jacket, her head pressed against his shoulder.

He flew toward her place, slowing down to a glide so the wind wasn't so harsh. Even at that speed, the flight didn't take long. She must have been on her way home. This time the roof was unoccupied when he landed lightly near the lawn chairs that were still sitting out. He didn't put her down immediately. "Are you okay? I'm serious."

"I'll be fine," she said. She patted his shoulder. "Also serious."

Hawks set her down with care, his hands on her hips as she caught her balance. She blinked and then looked up at him, her eyebrows raising. He instantly let go and did a half spin on one foot away from her toward the door that led into the building. Some feathers loosened to go do recon.

"I did some volunteer work at a clinic today and we were busy," she said unprompted. She reached up and rubbed the center of her forehead like she had a headache. "I can fly, but my healing factor comes from my wings. If I use it too much, my wings can't lift me."

He could understand that. Because of the weight to wing ratio, almost all flying quirks involved some other level of flight ability than just feather and wing strength. Bird had hollow bones while humans didn't. Most scientists agreed it was a kind of telekinesis. So her Quirk must have been one that involved psionic healing mixed with telekinesis. It would be classified under a mutant Quirk anyways, even though Hawks felt Quirks were more nuanced than most people believed.

"So you overextended yourself."

She nodded and sat down on a lawn chair. Taking off his jacket, she folded it in half and laid it across her lap. She played with one of the buttons. "I didn't mean to get involved, but when I saw her..."

Hawks stood nearby. "You saved that girl's life."

Hirano set her elbows on her knees. She didn't respond, her entire body showing her exhaustion and the tense set of her shoulders letting him know that she was worried he was about to ask her about going pro.

"Does it hurt when you heal people?" he asked, "I saw you wincing."

Hirano held out the jacket to him. "It's like an echo of someone's pain. I just breathe through it. It doesn't actually cause me physical pain. Actually it helps me understand where their pain is located if it's an internal injury.

"It hurt you when you healed my hornet sting. Right?"

Her eyes shot to his, and her frown was ferocious. "So?"

Yeah, he thought so. He put his hands in his pockets. "Don't heal me anymore if it hurts you."

"It just aches," Hirano said. "And like we've already discussed, I make my own decisions."

He half-smiled. "Yeah…" But he didn't want her hurting on his behalf. There were people at the HPSC who could patch him back together. However, he also was starting to understand just how stubborn she was. "Hey, let me walk you down to your apartment? Just so I can make sure you don't pass out in the hallway?"

"I'm really fine," she said, standing up. "I'll let you walk me to the door over there."

"Mmm…okay." He detached a feather from the ones that were already scattered around and slipped it into the hood of her jacket. Once she reached her apartment, he would retrieve it. Maybe it was wrong to keep an eye on her, but he would have a hard time forgiving himself if she fainted and he didn't know.

He walked her over to the door, opening it for her. "Get some rest."

She turned, resting her hand on the doorway, looking up at him. Something in his chest tightened at the tired, soft look on her face and how she had taken care of that girl without a thought for herself. "Hawks?"

"Yep?"

"Take your feather back right now," she said, the corner of her mouth lifting in a smile. "Nice try, sneaky."

Hawks rubbed the back of his neck and recalled the feather. Hirano gave a sleepy peace sign before heading down into the building.

He needed her phone number. If he had her phone number, he could at least text her later to see if she was all right. Next time he saw her, he would ask for it.