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God knows his crimes and so does the sun. Baby, he’s got vermillion, flaggin’ red wings. These beautiful boys are meant to be seen, radiating the glory of the day. In another world where Hawks would dare to proliferate lies in his soul, they would be the object of gawking. In this world, they have become terror, a symbol that strikes images of horrific murder scenes of snapped necks and severed fingers. (There is nothing like the sight of each partition of bone flying off simultaneously. If time permits, Hawks can have his fun by extenuating the experience to other bits and pieces, but normally the shrieks that Hawks always has to cut off even though they’re the best part because—delicate bird senses—brings in enforcement before Hawks can continue his fun.)
God knows, he ain’t hiding in shadows of backdooring alleys like a certain, certain pretty boy, cremation hero wonder. Hawks would even go so far as to call his emo wannabe ass suspicious as Dabi scuttles close to the claustrophobic walls, damp and dreary pressed on each side. Number two groveling Commission’s pet has an eye for flamboyant criminal mastermind, Hawks. Pretty, petty, and vain is something how it goes, isn’t it? Dabi has the pretties, Hawks can only assume whatever Todoroki drama goes on between father and sons fosters petty for petty pennies, and so it goes that vain is his attempts to capture notoriously slippery, top-tier wanted man Hawks. Why, he’s not that far off from Shigaraki and his merry band of villainous, cajolin’ murderers, when it comes to infamy, huh?
Though, damn, that really knickers at Hawks every time he thinks that the forever itchy raisin manchild has more quaking boots than Hawks, the guy with a taste for blood and a penchant for black market stocked information. Got a whole network that’s infiltrated every corner of society like an ecosystem-spanning fungi, and people aren’t scared because his only visible footprint are his gruesome murders. Yeah, sure, they’re ugly, but Shigaraki has Stain’s legacy, and that’s not something Hawks will be able to compete with so soon.
Soon is the operative word, but it leaves Hawks just a bundle of aggression and nerves. Good thing his stress reliever is practically salivating for a bone.
Hawks doesn’t do copy cat, copy fame—flies on his own wings, charts his own path. He’s not about to jack off to Stain the Hero Killer’s rhythm by stealing his claim to fame and the namesake of his moniker. Hawks can make an exception for number one’s firstborn, silver medallion of the Japanese Hero Billboard Chart though. His ol’ favorite’s kid, going stellar overfire like his dad. As always, the kid’s got to pay for his father’s mistakes and doesn’t that just make it sad? Not for Hawks, of course—he’s getting his revenge for all the years that heroes failed him, and his name is suddenly all over as the guy who killed their second. (One day, Endeavor will be under Hawks’ kills, but that’s for a violent middle act conclusion. Dabi is just the start.) Nah, Todoroki Tōya is just a real tragedy.
How fucking sad.
He lands on the ledge of a low-hanging roof with his wings splayed out to reach the heavens—or at least cast his feathers’ sheen with the grime of air pollution. He’s positioned near the mouth of the alley, ready to pounce from his perch and rip ribbons from Dabi’s skin. There’s some semblance of an escape route in the fact that he’s only askew the path, but Hawks is faster than anyone could flee. It’s in his interest to let people indulge in their false assumptions though.
“Heard you’ve been looking for me, firefly,” he calls out, indulgent in his own smug grin at the way Dabi fights down a sign of weakness and turns to face him.
The blue blasts him to a past that Hawks despises makes him want to rip out those offending orbs of cold, midnight sun, but just as fierce melancholy settles in Hawks’ skin as he’s equally reminded of treasured moments beneath the calming dawn. Destruction and preservation war within him. The solution is a simple creature that suits his tastes. Shigaraki certainly preserves his hands well—why can’t Hawks do the same with the glossy electricity-blue of Dabi’s eyes? He knows a person. Wouldn’t be his first job (though, it’s not really a job if it’s a personal pet project). He’s Thief Takami’s offspring, ‘course he would be proficient in stealing more than just lives. Eyes, hearts, and souls, he’s a demon in human’s skin, reaper in the sky. Right now, he’s got half a mind to reap those wary, baby sea-blue eyes.
“Keigo,” forms half-wittingly on Dabi’s tongue, breathless in a way that Hawks thinks is dumb with fond memories. There’s raw conflict on the hat-top, the whole nine yards of “why did you disappear only to turn up like this?” Hawks has an immediate answer, one that comes naturally as breathing like he doesn’t even have to think, because he doesn’t even have to think. Hawks doesn’t care, didn’t care, but he’s suddenly eager to reply when he thinks about the devastated expression that will wash all over Dabi’s face, difficult to scrub off.
He barks out a harsh laugh. A cackle far lighter but just as cruel sweet croons at Dabi, “Keigo, Keigo! Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in years. Did you miss me, Tōya?”
He leans forward and grins mockingly, picking apart the tension in Dabi’s face and the flare of temper that he used to rue. Like father, like son, and oh, how anger rages at the mention of their fiery parallels. Let it be a lesson to all those who respect wisdom: don’t search for an enemy who knows beyond the facade, to the childish base of the ego. If Dabi was wiser, he would have never sought Hawks. Lucky go Hawks for his mission of address, Dabi is a dumbass. Hawks is sure to make him suffer. Sometimes the only way to save a person is to damn their life to the hounds of hell. Then, and only then, can heaven treat their grotesque and toxic wounds. Endeavor may say he loves his child. He might insist he’s changed—a brand new, clean man. Maybe, but he still has to pay the price for the lies he’s spun. Dabi’s death will be Hawks’ joy and mercy, but Endeavor’s death is his ring for the abyssal beyond. Then, after that, heroic society will be the next to fall.
Shigaraki thinks he’s due the devil’s work, but Hawks is the true threat, and he’s sure as hell not going to let a child so cripplingly reliant on his mentor and caretaker land the final blow. He’ll have to do something about the League, but for now he’ll start with Dabi.
Hawks can’t wait to get started.
BREAKING NEWS: The number two hero, Cremation Hero: Dabi, found dead.
The villain Hawks is the suspected culprit of the murder. A red feather matching the quirk of Hawks, Fierce Wings, was found piercing through the abdomen of Todoroki Tōya, otherwise known as the hero Dabi. Furthermore, Todoroki’s fingers and hands were cut off and discovered in a nearby dumpster, which the villain has been known to do to his victims. Atypically, Todoroki’s eyes have been removed. Authorities have yet to find them. The authorities are performing an ongoing search for Hawks’ arrest.