Good actors hone their craft to mesmerize the crowd. That's right. The reason why I live my life the way I do is to get others to believe a lie. People don't realize just how much they expect their eyes to tell them the truth. However, what they see is not real. It's all a show. Every single part of this show is carefully controlled. Choosing the right time, the right place, and the right people matters the most. Whoever controls these three, controls everything. Those who keep their eyes peeled for deceptions, like Keigo Takami... They have an advantage. That man, he knows more than he should. Still, no matter what, the show must go on.

Sitting in front of my own reflection of my car's sun visor, my eyes held its glow. No matter how many times I attempted to force it back, it wouldn't immediately go to the original color I needed them to be. The normal color used by the quirkless rookie cop, the role I play a part in.

"I don't know for how much longer I'll be able to keep this up..." I rubbed my eyes and breathed in and out slowly to calm myself down. When I looked back up, they were back to the normal way I needed them to be. "Is this really going to be okay?" I wondered how much time I had left until I wasn't able to keep this once dormant power from resurfacing permanently.

'That night with Hawks, where he said my former name... It's almost as though it awoke something inside of me that refuses to go back to sleep. I could deal with it if my eyes were the only issue, but then there's the fact that Hawks was looking into my past.' I paused for a moment, remembering each and every word. 'He believed I was connected to the League of Villains at one point. By the time he asked me to meet with him, I was innocent in his eyes. But... What if that can easily be changed by whoever started this?'

With a sigh, I picked up my sunglasses from the otherwise empty passenger seat next to me and put them on. Getting out of my police cruiser, I adjusted my uniform and prepared to enter the police station.

"I thought I told you before that if you want to pass through a scene undetected, you're gonna have to use water, mud, or anything you can immediately get your hands on. Wet fur doesn't get snagged on branches and twigs as easily as dry fur. You'll be able to slip on by, and the villains will be none the wiser." One officer was giving advice to his partner as they stood in front of a window. I passed by the two in the hallway, nodding a short greeting to them. As I neared their group, I was waved over to help him in the conversation. "Lyris! I need some backup here."

"Nuh-uh, that's not going to happen! I can't stand my tails getting wet. I'd be better off... Tying them together around itself! Or... or something else." The younger officer suggested, her two tails behind her, then hit the person on the shoulder who was walking by, making him join in on the conversation.

"Hey, Goro's got a point." He added in with a small grin at the irony.

"When it comes to work as important as this, a stealthy and capable partner is simply a must-have. Especially if we want good results. You should consider his advice, Kirara." I stopped right in front of them to try and explain it to her. Her partner, Goro, gave me a small thumbs up to thank me. Embarrassed from her twin tails getting more attention, she immediately clutched them both close to her chest and held them in place before they hit anybody else walking on by. "You've got a powerful quirk. Use it to your advantage. Don't let it get in your way of your work."

Quietly holding on to her tails and facing towards the ground, she seemed to be deep in her own thoughts. For a moment, it seemed as though she was considering our advice, but let out a big sigh and shook her head. I knew she wasn't going to change her mind right away.

"Umm... Oh! Better yet, I should improve my fighting skills so that I don't have to sneak by them in the first place!" Kirara tried to counter our point. "If I do that, then I don't have to worry so much about stealth. Right?"

"That's not... Entirely a bad idea." Her partner agreed with a short light-hearted chuckle, making the others nod their heads in approval. "Until you achieve this new goal, I'll protect you."

"Such a dependable guy!" The other officer nudged Goro with his elbow and let out a hearty laugh, making the girl pull her tails in higher in order to cover her now deeply reddened face.

"I gotta get going, so I'll see you guys later." I parted ways with them with a short wave before turning the other direction, smiling as I enjoyed their fun interaction. It helped me alleviate some of the stress I've been under lately since being put under Hawk's microscope.

'Having a normal day like this, it makes me wonder what a normal day for him is like? A real Hero who can use their quirk freely... People like Kirara are lucky to have people help her out. My own power is... Better left sealed away...'

Walking past them to where their conversation was no longer within earshot, my arrival was later than usual which didn't go unnoticed by my own partner who stood up from the table at the break room as soon as she saw me through the window.

"Lyris! You're here." Her familiar face approached me when I walked in through the large double doors. "What happened to you? I was beginning to get worried."

"I slept past my alarm." I replied quickly with a short bow of apology. "Sorry about that, Miyo."

"In all the years I've known you, that's never happened before. Are you okay?" She asked me, genuine concern in her voice.

"Yeah, everything is okay... You guys, on the other hand, had a rather busy morning. Has there been any change from the person who was arrested yet?" I questioned to change the conversation, pushing my sunglasses up closer to my eyes to hide them when she got close enough to walk beside me. She matched my walking pace further into the building. I was glad she didn't question me about me wearing them inside, answering my question instead.

"Nothing really gets past you, does it?" She asked me in surprise.

"I heard about it on the way over here on my radio. Has anyone attempted to speak to them yet?" I explained.

With a shake of her head, that's all I needed to know.

"I take it it's not going well then?" I sighed. "That's frustrating."

"Unfortunately, it looks like they're not going to be easy to talk to. Stubborn people like them never wanna make it easy for us. Not even a little bit." She let out a short sigh.

When I looked over to some of those walking through the hallway ahead of me, the arrival of one person in particular had caught my eye. I momentarily stopped in my tracks from the unexpected encounter. "Huh?"

'No way... That blond hair. It has to be him. Considering how calm he seems to be, he doesn't seem to be in any kind of trouble.'

Watching him as he made his way further into the lobby, I noticed he was accompanied by two other officers. The only thing he carried was a kind of suitcase.

"Is something the matter?" Miyo asked me when she saw my reaction.

"Oh, it's just... What's going on over there? Is that a UA student I see?" I asked, pointing in the direction of that person. "That's their school uniform, right?"

"Right! I should've brought it up earlier. You see, starting this week, they're having several students work with not just the Hero Agencies but with the police force. It's so any hero-in-training can get more experience. I think it's a great idea! With this, they can see how different things are done on our side compared to the way Heroes do things." She explained as we resumed our walking and conversation towards the elevator.

"Some of those younger heroes are real flashy when they know the cameras are rolling." I agreed with a shake of my head. "Looks like we have to show those students the best we can do! It will keep things interesting around here for sure to have them around."

"He's supposed to be accompanied by a Pro Hero and one other student, but I haven't seen them yet. He was dropped off not too long ago by his parents, around the time that I got here, actually."

"Hmm? Then I wonder who's the Hero that ended up working with him..." I said out loud, pressing the button to call the elevator to us.

'He's someone I hadn't expected to see around here... Katsuki Bakugo. A name I came across when I began looking into Izuku Midoriya. I should keep an eye on him from a distance.'

"Maybe the Hero and the other UA student are just running late?"

With a short and simple beep, the doors opened, but the two of us didn't immediately go inside, allowing the others to walk past us first. Greeting our fellow officers like normal, we weren't in a rush to get to the floor where our desks were.

"With the traffic that I had to go through to get here, that's possible." I answered, keeping that in mind since I was genuinely curious to see who was teaming up with him for this assignment. Pausing for a moment, an idea popped into my mind. "Hey, with that new case, if that guy is still in the interrogation room, he's probably going to lawyer up. For the students to witness, do you think we should try t-" Before I could finish that sentence, a loud explosion nearby cut me off. Slightly losing my balance, I instinctively covered my face from the oncoming dust cloud headed my way.

A huge blaring sound immediately followed after. It started from the other end of the corridor until the rest of the alarms in the building started to ring in sync. Bright lights began to flash their warnings at the same time, and everything started to turn into chaos. The whole place seemed to shake. Dust flew in all directions, and a fresh gust of wind swept past us, which lowered visibility even further. My heart began to race, and I looked over to my partner to see if she was okay.

"W- what's going on?!" Miyo asked when I helped her stand up, having lost her balance from the force of the initial blast.

It was followed closely by several more bangs, and then people started shouting. The crashing of metal and shattering of glass put me in a state of alert. She didn't hesitate, quickly getting serious, and followed me after I broke out in a run. We rushed to make it to the end of the hallway and towards the source of the commotion. The ceiling lights all went out, and we were plunged in near total darkness. The only way to see were from others using their quirks and phone lights or flashlights. I ran along with the others who began to do the same. As a group, we headed towards the source of the disturbance without any idea on what to expect.

'As dark as is inside, the risk of my eyes being noticed is...' The thought surfaced in my mind, making me push up the glasses further up my face. Wearing them as close as possible, it significantly limited my field of vision more than the people around me.

Part of the building had partially collapsed, making dust and debris hung in the air in thick amounts. The window was no longer there since it had been blown away and left a gaping hole in the ceiling. Pipes that had burst had spilled water everywhere. The main lobby was filled with people running everywhere in the chaos to try and get to safety. Everything was in disarray.

One tall officer stood in the center. Something looked very wrong with him. His shirt was covered with blood, his chest heaving violently as he panted. When I moved in closer, I could see an unfamiliar person was using their quirk on someone. My shock made me freeze in horror, I just spoke to him like usual on the way inside the building not too long ago and yet there he was. A horrified scream caught my attention. Nearby was Goro's partner Kirara, whom I had passed by earlier, too, our newest officer with the two tails.

'Until you achieve this new goal, I'll protect you.' That promise he made to her had echoed in my mind. From the fearful expression on her face, her partner in the villain's hands must've had taken a heavy hit meant for her. I could see her twin tails were wet with what seemed to be a majority of Goro's blood.

"You're not strong enough to stop me! Ha!" Anyone who rushed forward to restrain the villain was swiped away by his quirk. He visibly enjoyed the pain and destruction being caused by the power he unleashed on those who tried to stop him. "You're all so weak!" His laughter sounded as if he's lost his mind, which made this situation a lot more dangerous. The surrounding officers watched nervously, not able to find an opening right away in order to rescue one of their own.

"What is this?!" Bakugo ran towards the chaos.

"He's trying to get to the interrogation room and free him! They're working together, the guy we just arrested is the targ- Ah!"

As an officer tried to hurriedly explain it to us, the raging villain let out a roar and wrenched a giant, round table that was fixed into the floor upwards in the air, raising it high and hurling it towards the crowd of officers. Getting ready to jump in between the table and people, Bakugo was about to intercept it until he stopped and looked over at something in the distance that was moving at high speeds.

"Get back, kid!" A new voice spoke up. "I got this!"

A small white cyclone whirled up, enveloping the table that was just about to fall into the crowd and tore it to shreds upon contact before it could cause some serious damage. Smaller splinters flew in all directions, the main chunks of what was leftover fell with a heavy thud away from everyone. Now that some of the dust had settled, I was able to see who it was that kicked the table away to protect us all.

"Mirko?!" I said in my surprise, feeling relieved that she was the one on scene.

"She got here so fast!" Miyo celebrated at the sight of the Pro Hero.

A few other cheers amongst the officers were heard over the blaring alarms from her arrival. However, it was short-lived.

"Aahhh!" After letting out another pained screech, Goro, who was still in that villain's hold, tried to get free. It made me tense up at the sight. His discolored muscles swelled up when the villain held on even tighter, oozing thin beads of blood from his mouth and wounds that dripped all over the floor. His young partner Kirara was actively being pulled away. She continuously kicked and screamed to save her partner despite how injured she was.

"Go! She could use your help." I told Miyo to head on over there and assist her since she had more medical training to offer than me.

"Be careful." She said before rushing off to check on those who needed help.

Everyone else moved with extreme caution because of the hostage situation, and under Mirko's direction, they mostly backed off. Several officers had begun evacuation of the injured before more of the building collapsed, and the other half were using various quirks to slow down the deterioration of the building any further despite the dangerous situation.

Mirko encircled the raving villain, alertly watching his every move. A thud nearby made me look behind me. The suitcase Bakugo carried now opened up and on the floor.

"Don't forget that I'm also here!" He raised his voice over the sirens, letting her know he was putting on some of his hero equipment on his wrists. He fixed one quickly over the pulled up sleeves of his school uniform before equipping the next one, preparing himself for battle beside her. He didn't make a move right away, awaiting her command and letting her take charge.

"Bakugo! Get ready!" Mirko called out to him.

Boom! In an attempt to distract Mirko before she landed another blow on him, he released the hostage and dodged her attack, knowing that she would prioritize Goro over him. He used this chance to make a fierce counterattack.

Using my arm to protect my face to block what was coming, the sheer force of the villain's quirk caused me to stumble and lose my balance, landing hard on my back. This made my sunglasses fall off. Its frame shattered from the impact of landing on the cold hard tile. Seeing his power up close like this compared to when I was further away during the initial attacks, I realized this was more dangerous than I first thought. I tossed those busted up glasses back on the ground in frustration when I saw them since they were of no use to me anymore. Now that they were damaged beyond repair, I was aware of that strange feeling in my eyes again.

When I looked back up to see where the villain had gone after finally releasing Goro, I made eye contact with Bakugo, who simply stared at me with a look of confusion on his face. Shaking my head, I sat up and turned my back to him. Immediately, I pulled out my cell phone, which now had a cracked screen on it.

'Did he just...?'

In the reflection of the screen, my eyes were their usual color, but I noticed there seemed to be brief flashes of it's glow. It was almost like a flicker, which most likely caught his eye. With a shake of my head, I put my cell back into my pocket and got back on my feet.

'This isn't the time to be worrying about this!'

"Everyone, get back! Give the heroes some space!" I raised my voice in order to get the attention of my fellow officers to get a move on now that the area has mostly been cleared out. I decided to leave this up to the two of them so I could get myself outside and out of the way. "They will take care of this, so continue your evacuation efforts!"

"IT'S YOU!" I heard the villain call out, looking directly at me after I had spoken up.

"What?" Bakugo realized their full attention had shifted to me, confirming I wasn't just seeing things when all eyes in the room paused to turn and faced me.

"Hey! Where do you think you're goin- Ugh!" Mirko was pushed back when trying to stop him from unleashing another wild attack.

All of a sudden, the few lights that remained above me started bursting when the villain started to power up his quirk in an attempt to clear a path straight towards me.

"Watch out!" Miyo called out to me from the other side. She was unable to get to me from the huge chunks of debris scattered about the floor, more fell in front of her with loud thuds which limited her movements.

In one swift motion, Bakugo used his quirk to fly over the loose rubble and position himself closer to me from across the room. Before I had time to react, my arm was pulled back by force, and a UA jacket covered my head. Everything went dark.

Amidst all of the chaos. I could only hear Bakugo's voice next to me sounding uncommonly on edge. "Stand here! Don't move!" He said quickly. "If you aren't going to use your quirk, we will take care of this!"

'There's no mistake about it... He saw my eyes...' My heart sank at the thought.

Hearing such a direct command, I didn't question him or dare to take off the jacket and leaned against the wall in place just as he told me to. I had no idea what was going through his head in the moment, but I followed his instruction. He engaged with the villain once more in order to break their concentration on me. He focused on protecting me from the villain and from the other heavy chunks of ceiling that fell from above with his quirk. The constant flashes from his explosions and his jacket that I wore over my head hid my eyes completely as I felt the unsteady power react to the dire situation.

'Not now. Calm down. Focus...' Breathing in and out slowly, I concentrated on mentally preventing the quirk from discharging. Despite the intense scene before me, I still had to try. Somehow, I was successful, and my power significantly diminished.

With a few powerful exchanges between the villain and Mirko, the building's interior became an absolute mess. As I tried to cover my head from the shattered debris and glass flying around with the jacket over my head, I lifted it slightly just in time to see the villain's shadowy figure finally get past the two. After a quick sweeping motion of their quirk caused the both of the heroes to be flung against opposite sides of the lobby, the villain positioned his body to charge towards me. With a grin, he prepared to close the distance between us and reached a hand over towards me.

"Get out of the way!" I hear Mirko's frantic voice call out.

A flash of green caught my eye.

"Detroit Smash!" A new voice joined the battle, their rushed attack aimed towards the villain had stopped them moments from making contact with me.

'It's him. That power, there's no mistake about it.'

"You're late, Deku!" Bakugo called out to him, yet even as angry as he sounded in his voice, there seemed to be a slight grin on his face from the timing. The villain was in a daze from the force of Deku's attack, but this small break won't last for very long.

"Mirko had me evacuate as many as I could to the outside." Deku responded, not lowering his guard as he prepared to join the fight with the other two.

"Get to her! Quickly!" My partner's suddenly voice spoke up over the warning sirens, being followed by other officers who gathered around me. They were wearing full gear, prepared, and regrouped. When they reached me after navigating through the rubble, Miyo's eyes reached me first and pointed towards me. "There she is! We need to get her out of here!"

Noticing Miyo's exhaustion, I knew she must've been using her quirk continuously on everyone who was hurt. Considering she was here, either she was able to save Goro, or... Her healing quirk, it took a physical toll on her but refused to let it slow her down even for a minute.

Following her, the group of officers had used a tight formation to hide me amongst the rest of them and began leading me away. The villain no longer had eyes on me, and I was nearing the exit with the group led by Miyo. I could hear the sounds of a violent struggle. The howling from the villain trying to reach me, the constant groaning of the building's structural damage, and multiple footsteps of heavy boots on the cracked floors.

"Ugh!"

"No!" My heart jumped uncontrollably. Before I knew what I was doing, I immediately yanked off the school jacket, and my face was once more visible. I looked out at the scene going on, scanning the scene for the students. "Are you alright?!"

"Hey! You okay?! Talk to me, kid!" Mirko called out, kicking away more of the collapsing ceiling away from everyone as bigger chunks fell in increasing frequency, including desks and chairs from the offices in floors above.

"Stop! It's too dangerous for you!" Miyo tried to pull me back with the other officers who had geared up to extract me from the scene.

"But, he's..." I saw Deku clutch his chest for a moment in pain before falling to the floor on his knees. "Wait! It's me you really want, right?!" With those words, Deku moved and lifted his head up in shock. "I'm right here!"

"NO! Lyris, you won't die here today!" One of the officers took my arm and positioned me behind them to stand in the way of the villain.

"Don't you even think about it!" An angry Bakugo yelled out, not wanting the officers to use their body as a shield for me. He took this momentary distraction to fire at the back of the villain and got his attention away from us. "Get up!" He called out to Deku, who was able to create some distance in that moment of distraction and fully stood back up to continue the battle.

"I'm ready!"

As Bakugo lifted his hand at the ready to strike, Deku regained his composure in time.

"Deku! Now!"

At once, Deku wasted no time to jump in from behind while Bakugo fired a precise explosion to land a well-timed joint attack and stun him. This stopped his advance long enough for Mirko to gain an opening.

As soon as she realized what their plan was, Mirko got a tight hold on that villain's neck and slammed him back down on the ground. They all worked together and ultimately submitted him to the ground. The quirk he was using had noticeably died down in power, and officers surrounding me were cheering for the three. Other officers who weren't injured as much went to quickly check on the wounded now that the danger has subsided.

"Here you go!" I called out to the three of them and tossed my own set of handcuffs in the air for them to use.

Grabbing it from mid-air, Bakugo then cuffed him in one swift motion. Mirko didn't let up as the man kept trying to struggle out of their hold on him. Deku looked up and found me, his eyes bright and fierce. Then he mouthed the words "we're okay" to me before I could ask either of them if they were hurt. My heart finally sunk back into my chest.

"Are you okay?!" Miyo ran over to me and pulled me in a hug now that things were beginning to settle down.

The remaining lights overhead flickered, and the damage to the building was a lot more significant now that I was able to get a better look at it. The sirens of several ambulances were getting louder as they neared the precinct. There were a few officers running around from one end of the lobby to the next, but it felt like we were the only ones there. Those two students in particular were going to be incredible future heroes without a doubt.

"What were you thinking?! That was dangerous!" Miyo's angry voice began to scold me for my earlier actions.

"I'm sorry I made you worry." I apologized to her, bowing my head slightly.

Even being fully restrained, the raging villain did not stop trying to get them off of his back. Bakugo held him down even harder and assisted Mirko in handing the villain over to a squad of officers rushing over.

"How are you?" Deku returned to me with a heavy face, out of breath, and with several cuts and bruises he got from that fight. I was hoping they were just visibly worse than they really were as he used the back of his hand to wipe some blood and sweat off his face. "You don't have to feel scared. The heroes are here!" He added in with a big smile, reminding me of All Might himself.

'This is the first time I'm face to face with the current wielder of One For All...'

"I'm fine. Really." Knowing he was making sure I was alright. Despite being in the middle of the fight and wounded himself, he held a smile to hide his pain from the injuries he sustained. I snapped out of my gaze and hastily shook my head. "Are you okay? That guy... We didn't even see it coming. If you heroes weren't here when you were..."

Just then, a new face arrived. After quickly surveying the scene and taking everything in, he walked over.

"What's the situation?"

"Under control now." Miyo answered.

"The arrest of his partner caused this villain to attack the precinct in an attempt to free him." I explained when I recalled the events leading up to now, noticing his outfit meant he was another Hero who had arrived on the scene for rescues.

"Anyone has eyes on the two villains?" He asked.

"As for right now, it seems like their goal wasn't achiev-" In that moment, a sudden explosion from behind us erupted.

"What now?!" Bakugo exclaimed in his frustration.

"The person that villain was trying to free is out!" An officer called out to warn us. "The walls broke down, and he got past us!"

"He's escaped?!" Miyo's eyes widened in shock.

The villain we thought we had arrested earlier in the day had immediately assessed the situation and focused his power onto Mirko, landing a hit on her and managed to quickly overwhelm her. With the subdued villain now free, they worked together to stun her, combining their power enough to blow her away. A fresh large patch of sunlight poured through the new hole in the ceiling where Mirko was blasted through, being the final straw for the building that couldn't hold it together any longer.

"Deku!" Bakugo called out while pointing my way to get his attention towards me.

Now that the two of them were free, the one who attacked the precinct ran towards where I stood. His hand reached towards me where I was, frozen in place from the drastic shift into danger. I couldn't even take a step back to safety fast enough. The shockwave caused the rest of the weakened parts of the ceiling to begin to collapse, causing everyone to scatter in order to avoid the cave in. Mirko had been the only thing preventing us from getting crushed. Now that she wasn't here, the rest of the building's weakened walls gave out.

"It's definitely you... You gained the interest of the higher-ups of the HIVE." He reached me before the heroes did, grabbing onto my arm and getting directly in my face.

Something hard hit my head. In my daze, I heard someone calling out to me, and a flash of green light surrounded me... Everything went black.

*Goro, Kirara, and Miyo, other officers, and the two villains are OCs I created.

*HIVE is my own creation. Surprise! The other stories/characters in "Blue Rose", "Lifeline", and this story are all connected with Hawks. Will continue to update and connect everything! All three women will cross paths soon.

September 9th, 2024