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Keigo wrestled his eyes open, fighting the lingering effects of whatever drugs were still effecting his system.
He could barely remember what had happened, only that there was a blinding flash of light ripping him away from the two other pro heroes along with the cold press of a syringe. Whoever had managed to infiltrate the car of the top three must be powerful. And idiotic, if they thought this was going to end up well for them.
The fragments of his wings fluttered hopelessly against his back, his wrists and feet tied to the chair. If his wings were still here, he’d be able to get out of this easily. They hadn’t even needed to use suppressors on him to keep him down. The room was dirty but empty, with a door on the otherside of the room, likely locked knowing Keigo’s luck.
Footsteps echoed out from behind.
A figure stalked out in front of him.
Dabi.
Keigo grit his teeth. Likely this was revenge for Jin’s death. Keigo had been expecting it, but had hoped his wings would have at least grown back so he could give them a good fight. Still, he would find a way to make do.
Interestingly enough, Dabi had reverted back to his black hair, looking much like the older version of himself from before Jaku. He was smirking, the look in his eyes condescending. He knew something Keigo didn’t.
“Dabi, how nice to see you,” Keigo said, with as much levity as he could manage. “Come to finish the job?”
Dabi looked at him, crossing his arms. His eyes glanced behind him for a second before flicking back.
“No,” Dabi replied eventually. “That’s not why we’re here.”
We? So someone else was in the room, presumably behind Keigo. Dabi must have looked towards him in that glance.
“Oh? And who else is here?” Keigo said lightly.
Dabi smirked. “No reason to prolong it, right?” That wasn’t directed to him.
Behind him, the sound of footsteps echoed. Finally the figure stepped out.
Red wings, blonde hair, lined eyes.
Himself.
Takami Keigo. Hawks.
Except he looked slightly different, not wearing Hawks’ typical hero costume. Instead he wore clothes suited more for stealth, a similar coat but in dark blue with navy trousers. They looked far dirtier than the Hero Commission would ever have allowed Hawks’ clothes to be.
“Didn’t know Toga had my blood,” Keigo said casually. He wondered how they had got it. It must have been at some point when he was with the PLF, since the wings were still there. He hadn’t noticed any needle marks, or anything to indicate Toga. He inwardly berated himself for them getting the sneak on him.
Toga snorted. “She doesn’t have your blood. That’s not what’s happening.”
She cast a glance to Dabi. “Told you he’d assume that first off.”
“Okay, fine, but I’m not paying the bet,” Dabi grumbled.
“I’ll just have to collect from Spinner, then.” Toga laughed, a sound much more toned down from her normal insane giggle.
Keigo eyed the two of them carefully. Something was off here. It was setting off alarms in Keigo’s mind. And why were they trying to trick Keigo it wasn’t Toga?
“You need proof, right?” Toga asked. “Our feathers control required a hell of a lot of training that Toga wouldn’t have. She wouldn’t be able to use them like we can.”
“That’s… true,” Keigo admitted grudgingly.
Toga smiled, a copy of his own smile so similar it was disarming. Suddenly, the feathers on her back lifted, each disconnecting and swirling around Keigo. Each controlled individually, each with separate motions. One went and ruffled through his hair, another tapping along his wrist.
Finally, they were brought back to rest as wings.
Okay. So. Controlling that amount of feathers with separate instructions was something the Commission had been aiming for ever since they had him. It required training, a brain able to process many multiple overlying stimuli at once. Toga didn’t have that. She was a good fighter, true, but using Hawks’ feathers was an incredibly niche skill set, and winged people weren’t exactly common. No way she would be able to do what that man had just done.
So. It wasn’t Toga. So who was it?
“How - “ Keigo began.
“He’s you from another universe. Got it?” Dabi interrupted.
The man that was apparently another version of Hawks glared at Dabi, but oddly enough the glare looked, well, not angry. Maybe even warm.
“I was trying to give him time,” Hawks whined. “C’mon, let me have my big dramatic reveal.”
“Sorry, Birdie, but you were taking too long,” Dabi teased, grin pulling at the edges of his staples.
Jesus, were they flirting?
“Okay, I’m sorry, what’s up with that nickname?” Keigo blurted. “No, wait, another universe? That’s not possible.”
Hawks shrugged. “The impossible happens every day. Just because there’s no quirk with universal travel on record, doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Records can be falsified, hidden. Out of anyone, we should know that best.”
And wasn’t that true. Okay, Keigo didn’t have a better answer. Hawks wasn’t acting anything like a Toga clone, speech patterns and vocal inflections exactly the same as his own. And the feathers. The only person who could do that was himself.
So then. This was another version of him. But then what was another version of himself doing working with Dabi? Flirting with Dabi? A cold paralysing dread spiralled in Keigo’s stomach.
Another him, another version, but that didn’t mean they were identical.
“What do you want? Why use a universe quirk on little old me?” Keigo said, tilting his head with a grin.
“The quirk allowed us to spy on you a little before taking you. Not a lot, but enough. You’re still with the Commission, aren’t you? Well, I wanted to offer you a way out.” Hawks stepped forward, determination a burning fire in his gaze. “I can get you free from that gilded cage.”
Keigo blinked at him. They clearly must not have seen a lot, if they thought the Commission was still up and running enough to have a hold on him. The gesture in and of itself was nice, but still, something about this felt entirely off.
“And what exactly does your way out have to do with Dabi?” Keigo asked.
“Everything,” Hawks replied promptly.
Keigo looked to Dabi, who was watching him like he was the man named after the bird of prey. His gaze was cold and calculating, but there was something else mixed in there, something unexpected…
“Care to explain further?” Keigo said lightly. “I can’t agree to anything without knowing the terms of the deal.”
Dabi stalked forward, gripping Keigo’s shoulder and leaning in close. Keigo eye’s couldn’t but zero in on the staples glinting so near to him.
“We’re dating. Is that what you wanted to hear? That I get to fuck your counterpart, while you don’t have anyone,” Dabi hissed. His hand began to heat up, still pressing against Keigo’s skin.
Keigo didn’t have the train of thought to focus on it. Dating? Why the hell would he date Dabi? He must be lying… but why bother? Why make up such a ridiculous lie? And that would explain those intense looks between them.
Dabi was dragged back from Keigo’s body by the touch of Hawks’ feathers.
“Stop antagonising my other me,” Hawks said disapprovingly, but there was a touch of something else in his tone. Oh god. More flirting. Was this really how they flirted? Keigo didn’t think himself this much of a masochist.
But apparently, if this other version was dating Dabi, he had much less in common than he first thought.
Oh no. His other self was a villain. That’s why the dirty uniform, that’s why the whole dating thing. Freeing him from the Commission? He was really asking him to join the League.
“Are you crazy? Why are you dating Dabi?” Keigo choked out. “He’s a villain. He’s killed thirty people!”
“Like that’s not what the Commission was training us to do ourselves?” Hawks said flatly. “C’mon, you know the line between us and them is blurred. It always has been.”
“That doesn’t mean you should date one of them,” Keigo gasped. “Doesn’t mean you should give up hope in everything, doesn’t mean you should fall to their methods. That’s what heroes do, they save.”
“That was never true. Violence is the only thing that will ever get the system to change like it needs to,” Hawks grit out. “The only thing that this world will listen to is the extremes.”
“You’re delusional,” Keigo muttered.
Hawks’ wings flared out at the insult.
“Don’t call him that,” Dabi snapped.
“I am him!” Keigo yelled.
“Obviously an inferior version if you still believe that hope bullshit,” Dabi seethed.
Keigo rolled his eyes. Getting tagteamed by two people intending on turning him to the villains side wasn’t how he’d expected today to go, but getting insulted by Dabi was too familiar.
“Do you even know?” Hawks snapped. “Do you even know what Endeavor has done? What the number one hero has done?”
“I know, and I accept that. But now he’s atoning, and I will support him in doing better. I owe him that!”
Hawks stared at him in disbelief. Dabi sat behind him, staples twitching. Steam was starting to pour out of the edges of his mouth.
“You’re still going to support him? After knowing what he did? To his own son?” Hawks asked, repulsed.
“Yes,” Keigo answered.
“I was wrong, you’re not the worst, he is,” Dabi hissed. “Can we make him shut the fuck up now? This whole plan was dumb as fuck from the start.”
Hawks looked down at Keigo, with an emotion he could only describe as disappointment.
Keigo stared coldly back. They were at an impasse, neither able to change each other’s view. And Keigo wouldn’t be changed. He would never, ever be a villain. Something in Hawks’ life must have gone horribly off course for this to be his life.
“I’m not going with you,” Keigo said steadily. “And you’re wrong, the Commission has no power over me anymore. You should have looked longer. If you had, you might see what joining up with them will cause. The destruction of everything.”
Hawks’ feathers fluttered, an instinctual sign of his emotions. Keigo couldn’t help but feel envy that this version of him still had them, still had full use of his wings.
“You don’t know anything of what happened in my world.” Keigo laid his eyes on Dabi. “You’re still going to trust him? He doesn’t care about anyone.”
Dabi’s eyes were as cold as ice. He didn’t move, not even an inch. A single twitch or fidget.
Hawks stalked forward, letting his wings rise up to shroud Keigo, hiding Dabi from view.
“If you really think that, you’re the delusional one,” Hawks said quietly. “I know you know him, but you don’t see him, do you?”
“He smiled when Twice died. Used it to propel his campaign. Isn’t that enough evidence?” Keigo snapped.
There was a low hiss of disapproval from behind Hawks’ wing, but Keigo ignored it.
Hawks head twitched. “Twice is dead in your world?” He said, tone growing dangerously low.
Damn it. Keigo had assumed they’d seen that, but apparently they must have gotten barely anything. Perhaps they’d only seen him in the car, and judged on that. Stupid, to give them more information than they already had.
“Who killed him?” Hawks demanded.
Keigo stayed silent.
But apparently that wasn’t enough to keep Hawks from figuring it out, for he turned around, running his hand through his hair.
The movement allowed Keigo to see Dabi once more, who had stepped forward when he was hidden from view. He looked pissed, hands curled into fists.
“What?” Dabi snapped at Hawks. “What did you figure out?”
Hawks looked despairingly at Keigo. “I think he did it - he killed Twice.”
Keigo once more said nothing. In all honesty, he deserved their rage. He hadn’t wanted to, had been left with the worst possible option but -
In the end he had done it, and that was the truth.
But what else could he have done? Do anything else and hundreds would die. He hadn’t had a choice.
Dabi stilled, much in the same way a predator stilled when they spotted prey.
Hawks noticed, and stepped in front of Dabi.
“Don’t, later you’ll regret it,” Hawks bit out.
Dabi’s eyes swerved dangerously to the side. “Would I?”
“He looks like me,” Hawks hissed, “Don’t lie to me. This isn’t something you can just brush past.”
Hawks looked down at Keigo one more time, golden eyes lost all warmth. His mouth lay flat, his disappointment clear to all.
“I think we should leave. Both of us need to cool down,” Hawks said shortly. He dragged Dabi bodily out with him, the door closing with a slam.
Keigo sunk down in his bonds and exhaled heavily. Looking at Hawks like that, it was like a mirrored reflection of the worst parts of himself. That visceral look of disdain…
He had to brush it away. Move on.
The only thing Keigo would allow himself to think of was getting out of here. And that was it.
And then later…
Maybe.
But not yet.