Chapter Text
Hawks gulped his nervousness down as she sat on the chair opposite him.
So many things to talk about. To tell her, beg of her to keep it secret, confess the shit that plagues him, and yet still the words just weren’t forming. So many sounds to make yet his throat closed up.
Not that she noticed any of his internal turmoil, no one ever does.
She just continued on with her rant like normal, “I was thinking about the things that I overheard last night and- first of all, I didn’t hear your entire conversation. I only picked up bits and pieces after Eraser started to really lose his shit.
I may not have heard everything but I did hear how you formed that plan to come over and help me out, and for that reason alone I’m giving you a chance to explain yourself.”
Suddenly thankful for his sobriety over the mission, Hawks looked back on his conversation with Dabi and decided to share the minimal information necessary. If needs be he can always tell her more.
“I got sent by the commissioner to spy on the League. That was a couple of months ago, currently, I’m still working with the broker but did get closer to the main circle. And umh- last night the broker was also Nova’s buyer so I dealt with the two (read three…. maybe four if you count it that way) missions colliding as best as I could and in the end you still figured it out.”
‘Better Rumi than Eraser’
“You already told me all that,” she reprimanded him.
“Give me a minute to lay down the groundwork for fucks sake,” he lightly snapped with no bark in his voice.
He finally decided that it would be easier to just share with her how the mission went instead of trying to explain his cluster fuck of a thought process, “So this is what happened last night through my eyes; my broker comes in, he sees me sitting at the bar and he goes over to Nova. He gets the files and promises that the League will protect him. He’s an asshole who loves to make my life miserable so he buys me a drink and forces me to interact with him in front of all the other heroes. Takes me to some random corner to make out with me while I try to gather information I already know.”
“And that’s when I notice how you’re faring with Nova. To me it was pretty clear that there was something wrong and someone needed to interfere, I tried that, and then he pushed me into a wall and effectively turned off my mic. From then on you know what happened,” Hawks explained with a lot of hand gestures and theatrical acting.
Miruko hummed in rhythm with him until she gave her take, “I heard you two making the escape plan and talking about me but after that, I was too focused on Nova to properly pay attention.”
Subtly Hawks glanced a few times to watch the tips of her ears to see if she’s lying or telling the truth, so far so good.
Clicking her tongue at him she asked the question that must have been there for a long time, “Did you actually help him get out of the bar with the feather?”
Confused as to why she would ask when she had already claimed to hear the escape plan, uncertainty filled his voice as he answered, “Ye-ahh,” Not wasting any time Hawks went straight back to his defensive position, “I do kinda need him to be alive and happy.”
She never did elaborate on that question but rather moved on to the next one, “Don’t you think that he agreed a little too easily for your plan?”
‘Well at this point there is a certain level of trust between me and Dabi, what with our deal in place and all so it’s not all that surprising that he just went along.’
Obviously, Hawks didn’t share his thoughts with her but rather fed her the answer that would suit best the character he’s been painting this entire conversation. He softly shook his head and kept his voice light, “Not really, because now, technically, I owe him a favor.” He let the words settle between them before moving on with a lighthearted comment, “Which is never really a good thing with a villain.”
Night before, Rumi called him a bad liar, she was wrong in that aspect, she also underestimated the lengths that Hawks will go through to ensure his lies stay hidden. But something she could've never have guessed was the cruelty that he possessed that enabled him to make her believe that in this situation he was actually in deep shit because of her when only the opposite was true.
Did he feel bad about it? Yes he did, but the show must go on and the commissioner needs to die and Hawks is willing to do anything to make it happen. Anything.
Anyway, it's not like he's gonna hold this against Rumi, so if she's smart she'll just let it go.
…
Hawks obviously underestimated the ways that they'd be similar in, since Rumi, was in fact, not letting it go.
"What do you mean you owe him?"
"Exactly what you just said, I owe him," Hawks repeated before quickly changing up his plans and adding, "If I were you I wouldn’t worry about it."
It took exactly 0.2 seconds for Rumi to follow Hawks' expectations and yell at him for how uncomforting his statement was.
He took a lot of care into molding his face to an expression of neutrality but no matter how hard he tried it was clear as day if you looked in his eyes to see how tired he was, both from Friday and just life in general. "It's an important mission," he had to stop himself from saying her first name, unsure if he's still allowed to call her by it. "I know you want more information but I simply can't tell you more, it's for both your and my safety. My guy may be an asshole but he still doesn’t trust me as much as he’d like to admit, he will ask me to do something illegal, something to prove my loyalty to the League for the fiftieth time but that is a sacrifice I'm going to have to make."
She wanted to talk, probably to try and argue some of his points but Hawks didn't let her speak, he had more to tell, his previous struggle for words forgotten as he fell back into the comfort of lying. "I mean it when I say to not worry about it. Not to be rude, but this really isn't something that you're involved in. And for the sake of keeping the mission as secretive as possible, you won't be involved. Possibly never… probably near the end."
There was a lot that Hawks didn't say to her, some of it was implied and made it to Rumi while the other will stay with Hawks.
Speaking of whom, she is mentally going through every bit of information that Hawks was willing to give out. Greatly dissatisfied by the lack of information she considered relevant, she had to admit defeat and simply accept Hawks' advice.
Not to be underestimated Miruko also spent the better part of their little impromptu meeting searching for any signs of lying, and no matter how much Hawks would like to argue against, out of everyone, Usagiyama Rumi knew him the best and therefore was able to safely conclude his justified way in the matter.
Honestly, it's remarkable what the human mind is capable of when calm and collected.
Rumi bowed her head in his direction, "I apologize for my brash reaction anger towards you, it was both unprofessional and asshole-ish of me to never let you finish your side of the story," she earnestly apologized.
And poor Hawks who had never gotten an apology in his life was at a complete loss at how to react.
'Just do what the commissioner would do,' his fight or flight reflex immediately answered the burning question in his mind.
'What, break her knee-caps for using the word asshole-ish?' The sensible side of his mind finally woke up.
'Or just do literally anything else other than sitting there and staring at her!' The reflex that was kicked into him yelled at him once more, 'and for God's sake BLINK!'
Stunned by his own mind, Hawks has no choice but to do as told and blink for the first time in minutes. If Miruko noticed it she took the liberty of keeping it to herself.
"Um," he still didn’t know how to properly respond, "apology accepted," he finished lamely.
Hawks got saved from his embarrassment when Rumi sprung to life hearing his words, "You’re not mad at me?" She asked, catching herself before she became too excited.
"No," Hawks definitely answered, he was going to go into greater detail as his handlers have always told him to but was interrupted by Rumi. "That's great," she exclaimed happily, "because I had the rest of the guys wait outside till I was done talking with you. And we kinda took a lot longer to finish up than I thought so I will have to cut our tear-jerking reconciliation short with the promise of hanging out next Friday?" She said all that in a single breath and nervously waited for Hawks' confirming nod before flashing him a toothy grin.
Her happiness was short-lived as she noticed the reluctance in Hawks’ eyes, sighing she went on to explain, “I actually planned to talk to you after the meeting but by some luck I caught the rest in a line at the cafe and asked them if they could wait a bit for us two to talk things over.” She sighed as she remembered the reactions of the group as she told them of the ‘fight’ she had with Hawks. “Rocklock and Mt. Lady were mostly worried about us fighting but the rest were all supportive. All except Eraser, sure he didn’t say anything, but I could still see just how, um, uncomfortable he was with delaying the meeting.”
“That’s, weird.” Hawks voiced his thoughts.
Rumi wholeheartedly agreed with him before adding, “It is weird and unusual and very suspicious and that is why I’ve been trying to wrap this up. I know that I’ll be able to talk to you about your whole secret mission thing again, especially since we already have plans to meet up next Friday, but time is running out on everything I can get out of Eraser.”
Hawks’ eyebrows rose about a millimeter, a shift so miniscule Miruko had completely missed it but one that spoke volumes of Hawks’ interworking monologue. ‘time is running out on everything I can get out of Eraser’
‘Looks like I’m not the only one who's spending a bit more effort uncovering all the secrets of our peers.’
‘Sorry, Rumi but there are just some things that you still can’t know about.’
He didn’t press about her obvious slip-up, rather just allow her to believe that he’s too tired to pick up the meaning of her words. If what she said about Eraser was true, which Hawks had full confidence it was, then that means that Hawks need to act now.
Turning around to face the door, "YOU GUYS CAN COME IN," she yelled out and the consequent shuffling that could be faintly heard informed Hawks that he failed to notice how strange it was that they could have such a private talk in a semi-public place without anyone barging in on them even by accident.
It took a minute or two but relatively quickly the meeting room got packed with heroes, who were all carrying at least one cup of coffee, and the final meeting was ready to take place.
"Here," Woods said as he pushed an iced coffee to Hawks, (At the same time as Mt. Lady gave Miruko her coffee), "You look like you need it." The comment was absolutely unnecessary as everyone could see the empty plastic cup and sunglasses in front of him as well as his bloodshot eyes, yet that didn’t stop Woods from thinking he was so clever.
"Ha-ha," Hawks laughed sarcastically, "you wouldn’t say."
"What?" Mt. Lady asked innocently as she got to her seat, "Didn’t get much sleep last night?" She teased with a smile.
Swishing around his new coffee, Hawks was unaffected by their remarks and rather cooly, stated, "Well since Eraser promised last night that he will listen to me as I talk about my boyfriend, I've decided to get a lot of material to talk about."
Chatter sprang out after Hawks' shameless confession, someone (Rocklock) even whistled at the comment, but Eraserhead didn’t pay a bit of attention as to what the fuss was about.
He laid out the papers he'd brought with him and placed the commission-issued recorder in the center of the table, "Pro Hero Eraserhead talking," he stated amongst the quiet that was quickly taking over the room as its occupants began to take the matters seriously. "Here recording the final meeting regarding the mission number xxxxxxxxxx."
He then proceeded to take roll call and briefly explain the reason behind this meeting, with every word spoken it was becoming clearer that this recording was going straight to the commissioner.
And it wasn’t just Hawks who figured it out, though he was the first, Eraser put a great deal of effort into being very clear how this was part of his official report, (one that would be seen by the commissioner’s eyes only), and even the lesser experienced the group caught on to be quiet and to listen.
As the meeting moved on Eraser didn’t allow anyone else to speak, he just kept going and going, rarely taking so much as a break only to glance at his papers before continuing with his words. And quite honestly, Hawks wasn’t aware that he could talk that much without relying on someone else to bounce off on, in short, he was fairly impressed.
He was also very suspicious of him, these sorts of meetings are known to be rowdy, usually, everyone would be talking over everybody else, some would actually be doing their jobs while the others would use this time to socialize and build connections or simply to catch up with an old friend. That's why these are sort of known to take ages to actually wrap up.
Which is why Hawks was even more shocked when Eraser finished off the recording in 20 minutes flat. Also to note, Hawks was listening to everything Eraser was saying and he just happened to conveniently forget to mention anything about the files. (or Takami Keigo)
'What is he doing?' Hawks asked himself the obvious question that must be on everyone's mind.
The meeting was finished, it was done, Hawks’ one last chance to review all of his peers before concluding his final report was gone and over with.
Worst of all, Hawks couldn’t even ask about the files or anything else really, that would bring him attention, the unwanted kind. He can handle himself when all eyes are on him but the best of his work always occurs when no eyes are on him, thus staying in the background is his safest and best option. But this can’t be the end.
It can’t, because some of the others also realized that information was withheld from the recording, not to mention the heap of nervous and worried glances that kept being passed around the table from hero to hero. (Hawks also participated in this train of looks even though he was sure he was missing something.)
And just once, just this time it seemed as though the universe played in Hawks’ favor because as soon as Eraser was done packing up he finally addressed the rest of the group. “Why don’t we take this discussion somewhere more private?” he asked the group as he not-so-subtly pointed at the recorder in his bag.
And that is how Hawks found himself at U.A. The prestigious school known for producing some of the greatest heroes of all time, coincidentally enough it was Hawks’ first time ever to be in its premises.
He’d been sent by Eraser to arrive first and deliver a message to Nezu that the meeting will continue in one of U.A’s many private meeting rooms. While Hawks doesn’t appreciate being used as a carrier pigeon he does see the advantage of arriving first so he went along.
By God, do those advantages count because not a second passed since Hawks landed on the courtyard of the school’s entrance that the Pro Hero President Mic came over to talk to him.
“Hey there Hawks,” the teacher called out to him in a cheery voice as he made his way and bowed his head in Hawks’ way, likewise Hawks did the same and soon enough the two were shaking hands.
“It’s so weird that we never got to talk properly,” Mic remarked as the two clicked together within seconds of being near each other.
“I know,” Hawks 'solemnly’ nodded along before he added, “I was actually gonna come over and talk to you at the winter gala but work called and… you know.” He finished off with a shrug of his shoulders which has always been the universal sign for heroes for when work interfered with your personal life and there was nothing you could do to stop it.
Mic blushed a bit at the mention of the winter gala but he didn’t dwell on it and rather switched the topic, “I actually want you on my station so bad,” he had to stop due to his incoming laughter but he held himself together, “I do think Eraser has come close to murdering me over the amount of times I’ve asked for your number.”
Hawks actually did have the gall to be astonished and surprised at Mic’s words, “You have to be kidding me?” Hawks beamed at the man as he asked the question, “I’ve been bugging my agents for literal months trying to get in contact with you.”
As they walked to Nezu’s office, the two were constantly shouting (lovingly) at each other and complaining over all the time that they could’ve spent together but hadn’t due to communication errors. Hawks had let Mic guide him even though he knew the way, one of his handlers thought it was important for Hawks to know the layout of every single building he viewed as important, so he wasn’t all that worried that he’d get lost. It did work out nicely since he was able to ‘trust’ Mic as the man walked him around the corridors. Not asking questions about their way or second-guessing Mic’s decisions seemed to have really worked, since by the time they came to their destination numbers have been exchanged, plans have been made and connections have been formed.
‘Looks like Eraser should’ve kept us apart if he didn’t want a headache,’ Hawks inwardly chuckled at Eraser’s misfortune as he knocked on the door.
Any hero, old or new, will attest to the fact that having multiple team meetings in a single day, never mind consequently, is a bad, bad idea.
Having said that, Hawks didn’t necessarily mind this rushed meeting that was obviously pulled together last night. The UA meeting room was much more spacious, equipped with better technology, had an actual emergency exit if any heroes were needed and just overall had a more comforting vibe.
Even the chairs were nicer. They were adjustable to both the height and degree of incline, not to overview the fact they had cushions.
In all the grueling years Hawks had spent in the commission headquarters he’d come to realize that every single chair in that building (apart from the commissioners) was made to be uncomfortable, and thus they were all either slightly too tall or short, there was always a leg that had at least half an inch cut off to make you unconsciously wobbly and therefore make a fool out of yourself while you’re presenting the (extra) research you’ve done (and you weren’t given any credit for it even if it was vital in the end) to your team of all veteran Heroes (multiple of whom had to come and talk to you later on about your unprofessionalism) and you are just wobbling there. Like a fucking idiot.
But never mind that, the cushions on the chair were so comfortable that he had to rub his thighs to feel any sort of friction on his newest cuts. Which meant that he had to sit there in perfect comfort.
Everything has its pros and cons.
…
Hawks was particularly excited about his time to prosper.
Since there was clearly a reason Eraser brought them in here, Hawks was patiently waiting for him to drop the bombshell.
And ooh boy, was it a bombshell.
“The commission is trying to shut down UA and reform it to instill their preferred teaching methods,” Eraser was focused on his audience, clearly observing every reaction.
Hawks wasn’t that shocked to hear the news, you hear about the child enslavement camps and suddenly trying to brainwash upcoming heroes seems mild.
You would never guess it just by looking at him since he was copying both Rocklock and Rumi in their expressive body language. You could read him like a book except if you think too much about it the words suddenly become a different language.
“I am telling you all about this because with the recently acquired knowledge that we’ve all acquired last night I believe that it’s possible to use those files in order to preserve UA as it is currently.” Eraserhead continued with his explanation as the previous shock started to die out.
“So your plan is to blackmail the commission,” Rocklock was the only one brave enough to call out Eraser on his use of flourishing words to cover up the reality. “With the files that we don’t actually know what they’re about, that are also just a memory at this point because the buyer turned out to have a teleportation quirk which none of us were prepared for.” His tone was laced with badly hidden frustration.
Eraser was quick to defend, “The files are actually about a man named Takami Keigo, the one which Nova was very insistent upon who could fight against the commissioner.”
‘Takami Keigo here, and just for the record I have no fucking clue how to successfully fight against the commission so I probably shouldn’t be your best option.’ The desire to scream this out was so strong and yet Hawks’ willpower was just slightly stronger and he’d managed to keep it to himself.
In all seriousness, he did actually play with the idea of telling the group about himself but there were a few major factors that came to stop him, the residing bits of suspicion that Hawks possessed for every single one of them that is forcing Hawks to believe that his fellow peers would gladly sell him out, the utter lack of knowledge on how his file could be used to properly blackmail the commission, the deal he’d made with Dabi, already solidifying himself as a ‘hero’ who doesn’t just want to blackmail the commissioner but rather slit her throat and the selfish reasons of not wanting them all to know about every single mistake he’d made which the commissioner had all gladly written up in his file as well as saving himself from the guilt he knows will come once he makes his stance with the League against the Commission public. It’s for the best to keep people at arm's length.
‘They all have strong morals,’ Hawks recalled his thoughts about his group, ‘If they knew what I know they’d just chuck the commissioner in a jail cell and call it a day. They wouldn’t kill her. All of them are too good for that.’
As the eldest two of the group continued to disagree with each other, Hawks took the time to note the thoughts of his peers.
Unsurprisingly they were all reluctant in following the bare bones of a plan, a plan that if backfired would lead them all to the isolation cells of Tartarus.
But Hawks didn’t have the time to spiral, he needed a plan and he needed one now, ‘Out of everyone in this room I know for certain that me, Rocklock, and now Eraserhead have solid reasons why we would want to use blackmail on the commission.
Our group is naturally divided into two, me, Rumi, Woods, and Mt. lady form the first while the rest form the second the introverts and extroverts it seems like. Or ‘30s and over’ and ‘under 30s’.
Eraser has already shared his bit so he’s fine for the time being but if Rocklock was to share the same things he told me on Thursday. That would likely push Edgeshot into agreeing, seeing as his two most trusted peers (also the people he is the most comfortable around) had sound reasons and just means.
On the other hand, if I was to give any of my reasons for my hate, Rumi would follow me. We just made up, so our relationship is still a bit rocky, so she would jump on any occasion she could to be on my side to prove that the (brief) rift that was between us is truly in the past.
That leaves Woods and Mt. Lady, who I believe will either just succumb to the pressure or leave entirely. If they leave that means that our group will be down two pairs of hands but it is no good to have someone who is only lackluster in their contribution.’
This strategy was great while in his mind but once Hawks had seen how Rocky and Eraser were still at it he came to the realization that he’d have to be the first to give extra information about himself, his whole mood soured instantly.
Time really was ticking, and Edgeshot looked seconds away from a mental breakdown while the couple was longingly staring at the door in hope of someone interrupting the nasty fight that had evolved between Eraser and Rocky.
Hawks is incapable of being nervous but Takami Keigo is absolutely terrified at the thought of willingly giving private information about himself to people who he knew wouldn’t be able to understand. It was different when Shigaraki cornered him in his living room. The League, while made up of only villains, had members that Hawks knew could relate to his family situation and to a lot more he didn’t feel the need to share. Dabi’s abusive father and manipulative mother, Toga’s parents who actively shamed their daughter because of her quirk, Twice who had to live his life while surrounded by people who would abuse his kindness, Spinner whose animal traits caused controversies and dramas in his social life, Mange who was publicly shamed for the way she identified, Mr. Compress who finds it easier to hide behind a mask because people never treated him with dignity when he acted like himself and Shigaraki who has a great deal of pressure and expectations on his shoulders just because people above him want something from him.
Hawks was well aware of all those facts weeks before he’d shared anything relating to his father. Not that he did so willingly, Shigaraki had twisted his arm into confessing and it was only due to his skills that Hawks was able to come out of that conversation relatively unscathed.
This was different because there simply weren't any villains there to force him to talk and he didn’t spend months of his precious time studying everyone in the room. This time Hawks would need to start the conversation, instead of diverting any attention he needs to actively seek it and he needs to be sincere enough to pass off as genuine as well as reluctant enough to show just a fraction of how much turmoil this brings him.
With all Hawks knows about Rocklock, the man should be moved by an emotional confession, with the relationship they’ve built up, Hawks is certain that the older man will feel a lot of pity towards Hawks whenever the topic of family will come up and this strategy is depending on that. Not to undermine the shock that is sure to arrive, a successful and popular like Hawks actively asking for the commission to cover up his upbringing and then later using it as blackmail is sure to enable a change in perception over his peers.
With the practice he got with Shigaraki, Hawks prepared his tale as he very loudly and fake-y coughed on his fist.
“As much as I would love to see you two in a fistfight,” he teased the men in front of him, “I feel like there are things I can bring into this discussion.” His tone was a neutral one albeit cursed with a faint uneasiness that was unanimously agreed upon to have no place on a man like Hawks.
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The room felt 10 degrees colder and Rumi didn’t have a clue what was causing it until she noticed Hawks. She saw how he was carefully eyeing each and every one of them on the table, she also noticed that for the first time (ever) today he seemed uncomfortable.
No. Not just uncomfortable, he was pale in the face and Rumi could even make out a thin layer of sweat that laced his face. In other words, he looked like he was gonna throw up but was forcing himself to swallow it down.
And just when she was going to call out to him and best get him to the infirmary, he started to talk and…
fuck.
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With a quiet sigh, Hawks stared at the wall between Eraser and Rocklock, “I rose to fame quite quickly, though I do say that that’s just my style at the time I wasn’t ready for it.” Quickly blinking away the tears in his eyes, but not too quick for the people watching to miss, he continued. “The truth is… my mother’s an alcoholic who was very negligent in her parental duties but never mind her because my father is.. was, he was a criminal.”
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‘Goddammit. I should’ve realized something about his story wasn’t right,’ Rocklock thought with great annoyance as he watched the young man in front of him fight the tears that are threatening to spill.
‘I swear, I just want to talk to his parents, and if things get out of hand then that will not be my problem.’
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“Nothing major, mainly just a petty thief,” he added once the shock in their eyes turned into questions, tho he did undermine the achievements of father dearest if anyone went looking it would be a hell of a lot harder to find a specific petty thief rather than a man with multiple murder charger alongside his extensive list of all the places that he’d robbed in alphabetical order.
“The reason none of you knew this prior to a few seconds ago is that I prefer it when people don’t know about my upbringing. I don’t like talking about it, I don’t feel comfortable talking about it and the only time I will do so is with my therapist.” (A lie, perfect soldiers do not have any imperfections so there is no need in seeing a therapist.) “With my sudden rise into the public spotlight, people wanted to know more about me but I just... couldn’t. If anybody looked at the right place they could find reports and news articles on my father or worse, they could find personal information on me. The orphanage I lived in was practically putting up posters of me on its front doors, and they were sharing stories of me. Not even threatening them with legal action did much.”
His sigh at the end of that sentence had just the right amount of shiver put into it to absolutely break the hearts of his listeners.
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Eraser was by far one of the most composed of them, was he shocked to hear what Hawks had to say? Yes, absolutely nobody could’ve prepared themselves to hear such a story from someone like Hawks.
But he also was the one with the most interest in him, you see Hawks is the only hero whom Endeavour will willingly work alongside with. Even if that willingness is purely based on the fact that being seen with Hawks will automatically raise your popularity, it still stands. And Eraserhead was planning on having a talk with him about Endeavour and the possibility of a lawsuit and Hawks’ stance on the matter.
Now though, Eraser is beginning to think that he should talk to him sooner, about some hero groups that work with helping people in situations like his, not about Endeavour.
He inwardly smiled to himself like he was reminiscing of something, ‘Huh, so the brightest of smiles really does hide a lot.’
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Hawks took a deep, long breath, preparing himself for his confession, “I was young and I was dumb,” by immediately setting the stage he drew in everybody. “And I asked the commissioner for a favor.”
And the bomb was dropped.
Unlike Eraser, who was very calm throughout his talk, Hawks didn’t let the words settle in, he barely gave them a moment to catch up.
“I asked if it could be possible to hide all information about my family and the commissioner already knew of my parentage so she wasn’t all too shocked at my request. A week or two later there was nothing on me, no matter where you looked or who you asked. The only source of information about my family was me… and the commission.”
He let these words settle under the pretense of calming himself, “It turns out,” he started once more after delivering a spectacular performance of his perfected pretty cry, “that the commission will not just forget about all the work they put in to hide so much information. So long story short, I’ve been forced to do the commission’s bidding for most of my career and unless something happens I’ll be doing their bidding for the rest of my life.”
He turned to Eraser where he spoke with utter resolve, “At this point, I’ll do anything to try and stop the commissioner, and if that means following some dodgy, half-throughout plan, then so be it.”
“You’re in?” Eraser asked quietly, unsure if the things he’d heard were real.
“I’m in.”
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Takeyama Yu stared, jaw-slacked, at Hawks. Her mind was still reeling since the beginning of this meeting when Eraserhead spoke about the commission's plan for the school.
Never would she have guessed that other people would be in a situation similar to theirs.
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Nishiya Shiji was also staring, but not at Hawks but rather his girlfriend, his partner, his best friend, his love. She may be all those things to him but there was one thing which he knew she wasn’t, calculating. She couldn’t see the ways this little group of heroes could help them, she could only see the revelations before her that blinded her from seeing the plans already in making.
She didn’t need to fear those things because he was there, and he will always be there for her. Even if it brings his downfall.
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There was an air of calm around Edgeshot and all (but one) thought that he was just the best at staying level-headed during complicated situations.
That was just the face he’d make when he was trying not to cry.
Tears of despair or joy, he didn’t know, all he did know was that finally, he could stop lying.
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Hawks underestimated his own impact since he’s seeing the entire group, sans Eraser, itching to talk.
And as they all sat around the table in silence, Hawks could physically feel the weight of their stares, most were of pity but some were (cough Rumi cough) were just looking at him with pure sadness in their eyes. Pity was something that Hawks abhorred, it never helped it before but it seems like the best of heroes are always the most gullible ones.
Something that finally worked in favor of Hawks.
“Damn,” Rocklock thought out loud, “You know, I’ll feel bad if Hawks was the only one who shared when I also have my fair bit of stories I could say about the commission.”
‘You’re the fucking man Rocky,’ Hawks thought as he let an encouraging smile etch itself on his face.
After a couple of deep breaths, Rocklock started to fidget around with the sheet of paper that he nabbed from Eraser, and he began to tell his story, eyes never leaving the paper. “Years ago at the rising point in my career, I got offered a place on a team-up that the commission was doing for some health and safety lessons at places like UA and Shikatesu. I declined their offer, and um,” a subtle blush rose to his cheeks, “I was very cocky and too confident for my own good, so I kinda told her off.” Rocklock was forced to stop since the noise that erupted in the room was overflowing.
Some stern glares from Eraser later, and the storyteller continued on, “I criticized the commission’s lesson plans straight to the commissioner’s face, and literally the next day my first scandal happened. From that year on I never placed anywhere high on the charts, my company’s been on the verge of collapsing ever since and my patrols have always been terrible. Simply terrible,” he shuddered at the thought of his usual patrols but didn’t offer any explanation.
The corners of Hawks’ mouth minutely turned down as he couldn’t recall anything terrible about his joint patrol with Rocklock.
“I always knew that, somehow, that was the commissioner’s way of punishing me for saying bad things about the commission. I talked to a couple of my friends at the time and they didn’t believe me, called me paranoid and obsessive and then, would you know it, a couple of weeks later and the entire hero community also thinks that I am a man paranoid of the commission. I never spoke of the commission again, in hope that my good behavior will somehow make the ‘bad luck’ stop. It did eventually stop but only after the birth of my son.” Nothing forced him to stop for the second time other than the pesky thought of the commissioner getting her grubby hands on his baby.
“It’s been a couple of months since then, and life’s been good. Too good. Maybe I am paranoid but it simply feels wrong to live normally just because I have a son. Makes me think that the commission is planning on using him as a hostage if I ever step out of line. I would’ve thought that was ridiculous but now I know that they really aren’t above it.” Silent tears fell down his face, the rest of the group had enough courtesy to not comment on it.
“If my son’s life really is in danger then playing safe seems like the right option, but when he grows up and has children of his own will he also be forced to play safe, will the threat be expanded to the rest of my family and my wife and her family, what about my friends and fellow heroes, are any of them safe? A hero’s job is to protect its people, normally that’s against villains but now it’s against the commission.”
For the first time since he began talking Rocklock looked at the other people in the room, he turned to Eraser and declared, “I’m in.”
He didn’t bother to do much more other than glance at the other to note their reactions but he did spend a second longer on Hawks as they both smiled at each other with tear streaks on their cheeks.
“Fuck,” Miruko released from the bottom of her soul, a few seconds later after all the eyes have finally settled on her, she continued, “It seems like we’re sharing secrets so it might be time for me to add something.” Before suddenly turning round to Hawks.
“How did I miss that you have mommy issues?”
The dam, that Hawks didn’t know was there, broke. Hawks simply couldn’t contain his laughter so let it all out. He laughed and laughed, clutching his stomach from the pain and twisting in his chair as the laughter just kept coming while Miruko had to fight off Eraser.
“I swear that wasn’t what I had to say.”
“Still not the appropriate time or place to make such jokes.”
“Yeah I know, the thought just suddenly came to me that I only knew of his daddy issues but not his mommy ones,” she added after a moment of silence, “Sorry Hawks, you just caught me by surprise.”
The man in question couldn’t breathe and was once again crying, this time from laughter, but he still managed to wave off her concerns while he began to catch his breath.
“So, what did you wish to say?” Eraser asked, ready to finally get back on track.
“To put it quickly, the commission threatened to revoke my hero license if I don’t stop having my ‘very public’ opinions that don’t correspond with the commission.” She spoke fast and was tapping a finger on the table, nevertheless her own turmoil didn’t prevent her adding, “This was after I went solo and they fully well would have succeeded had not there been a scandal bigger than me. After that they tried to keep me close by, always offering me places in whatever company sucked up to them the most, but I never accepted their offer. Honestly, I’m prepared for the day I get my letter of resignation just because I said something too provocative.”
Nails still making contact with the wood of the table an uneasy silence was born, people around the table have finally begun to connect the dots and realize that their situations are not just one-off incidents but rather calculated plans to force them into submission.
Hawks, who knew better than every one of what the commission was capable of, was still surprised at Rumi’s experience and he had made a point of not hiding his worried glances towards her.
‘She was going to get her license removed,’ He thought in concern, ‘I never knew that.’
What caught him the most was that he was the one who supported Rumi in her decision and could’ve stopped her if he’d known.
‘But I didn’t know, and I wouldn’t have unless she told me so,” an ugly sense of dread sprung in the pit of his stomach that he was still clutching. ‘They know that my friendship with her is real, I thought this was a test to prove that but they already knew it. This was a test to see if I’m too dumb to see through them if I’m dumb enough to be kept.’
“I might as well share my stories if this is what the meeting turned out to be,” Edgeshot spoke up soon after Miruko wrapped up her (short) story. He was as unnerved as everyone else in the room but he at least tried to hide it, keeping steady eye contact with everyone and keeping his voice even masked most of it but he didn’t even notice how badly his leg was shaking.
“The commission is also blackmailing me,” this was said with sympathy aimed at Hawks, “But my situation is a bit different than Hawks'."
His voice cracked immediately after he began to talk about himself which automatically signaled everyone that Edgeshot is not as poised as he acts to be. "A couple of months ago I got asked to spy on the League of Villains. I thought the job was too risky and dangerous, at the time the League hadn't done much other than the USJ attack. So I declined their proposal. That was a mistake because in reality I wasn't asked, I was ordered and I went against those orders."
Twice in the span of a few short minutes Hawks had been actually shocked by the commission's actions. 'First choice be damned, I was never meant to be the spy.'
While Hawks' reaction was an internal one, he was very aware of Rumi who was sitting beside him. To prevent further questions (and damage to their relationship) Hawks was a bit more shocked than anyone else at the table.
"The commission has basic personal information on every hero, I gave them mine under the pretense that it will stay private, currently they are threatening to release it if I don't comply with their commands" The words were picked for this to be a spur of the moment decision to tell the others.
Edgeshot had actually been planning and practicing this speech, Hawks noted. He also remembered the information the commission actually has on Edgeshot and how it’s less than what they have for any other hero. It certainly wasn’t enough to use for blackmail but Edgeshot had no way of knowing.
"Are you being forced to spy on the League?" Eraser asked (demanded) before Edgeshot even got the chance to finish.
Having obviously expected the question, Edgeshot answered instantly, "They want me to become a more commercialized hero, when I asked about the spying they just said to not worry about it. It's safe to assume that some other hero is actively spying on the League for the commission.”
Whispers and murmurs broke out while Hawks worked hard to ignore the eyes that were boring into him, silently asking if he’d reveal himself as the spy.
Not that he will. He has simply done too much in the name of the League to be able to speak about it to heroes.
Two people were left who hadn’t spoken much. And Hawks being the helpful bird that he is decided to say something about it, “This would probably be a weird question if it wasn’t so clear that the commissioner is a heartless hag. So, Mt.lady, Woods, anything you’d like to share?”
Attention was successfully brought on the pair as they were fighting the urges down to squirm in their seats. “Surprisingly there is more to share about the commission,” the tone Woods replied in showed that he wasn’t surprised in the slightest.
Mt. Lady took over the role of speaking, “After our first team-up, me and Kamui drafted up a standard 6-month contract and the commissioner got news of that. She called us down into her office and talked a lot of how proud she was of us and how the commission will do anything to help us grow as heroes and to never be afraid to ask anything of her because the job of the commission is to help the heroes.”
Woods, in an almost practiced manner, cut off Mt. Lady in her ranting, “From day one it was clear that something was off. It always seemed like they were planning something behind our backs.”
“And they were,” a rightfully angered Mt. Lady continued on, “The next time we had a meeting I lingered behind and snooped around for a bit-”
“Which in hindsight is insanely dangerous as you would’ve been caught if-”
“Zip it Woods I wasn’t done. As I was saying I snooped around and heard the commissioner talking with some other employees about us,” one last final glance shared between the two of them, “Saying how me and Kamui are good candidates and we have potential and that it’s just a waiting game until the ‘drug’ gets approved for testing.”
‘I knew there was more to their sudden fascination with quirk enhancers.’ Hawks thought as his face began to hurt from the same repeated expression of shock he’d been pulling for over an hour.
“I still don’t understand how you weren't caught?” Woods asked nobody but himself and yet Mt. Lady answered his question.
“By pure luck. The other employees were inches away from me when the commissioner began talking about some faults in the electric room and by that point, I started running.”
The ‘electric room’ as the commissioner has called, is very familiar to Hawks who’d endured most of his punishments in those 6 grey walls. His last major punishment that actually damaged the room to the point it became ‘faulty’ was about 3 to 4 months ago. Meaning that in that time the quirk enhancers have not been completed as both Mt. Lady and Kamui Woods are still alive and free to speak ill of the commission.
Woods was once again scolding Mt. Lady for her recklessness and Hawks took that as an opportunity to scold Rumi for she never told him about the threats she’d received from the commission about getting her hero license revoked.
One by one people were quickly coming to terms with all that was said and were having further discussions about it. Rocky was talking to Edgeshot about his problem with stalker fans while Eraser joined in on Woods with his berating of Mt. Lady For not considering her safety.
In all that chaos Hawks and Rumi actually got a chance for a moment of privacy.
“I never knew about your parents.”
“Because I never wanted you to know.”
“Still I’m sorry you went through that.”
“Thanks, but it really isn’t your fault that my parents were incapable of using condoms.”
No comment came from Rumi as she didn’t know what to (or even if she was allowed to) add.
“Please, by all means, feel free to diss my parents. I’m also A-ok with both daddy and mommy issues jokes.”
A beat passed.
“The commission’s been blackmailing you for a while now.”
‘What a change of topics.’
“Yeah, I always thought that I never had a choice in the matter but maybe that’s changed now.”
The two couldn’t continue their conversation as Eraser got a phone call that interrupted every conversation in the room.
He didn’t do much talking, just hummed along to the person on the other side (Nezu, Hawks could hear him perfectly) before finally ending the call without saying goodbye and addressing his audience.
“Is everyone here in?” A rhetorical question that was still answered by the group.
Eraser looked around the room in a manner similar to an hour ago when this ‘meeting’ first began. Tho this time he was in no mood to hurry.
“Operation: Find Takami Keigo, is now in full run.”
Keigo’s cheeks were now burning from the force he was using to keep smiling. Smiling his stupid smile even as Eraser kept on explaining the ins and outs of this new operation which was sure to backfire.
There was no plan forming in his head, no new scheme to try and play the commissioner, just plain exhaustion from life.
‘YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!’