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The call took her by surprise. Hawks picked up impatiently, her eyes glued to a book she had in her hands, a story she couldn’t stop reading. It was good being alone, reading a book on a windy night. The Saturday was almost ending and there she was, stuck to those pages. The sound of the phone was an intermission. She picked up despite not wanting to.
She picked up the call thinking it would be something important, it was wasting her time while she tried to finish the book that day. The call was just a random person trying to sell her some product she didn’t want or need. Angrily, she turned off the phone, feeling bad for the woman who tried calling her, she was trying to do her job, but she had just made her stop reading the book in her hands, she didn’t know how the woman had gotten her number, but she found it to be suspicious.
She tried to pick off where she left, slightly distracted after that intermission. This was one of her few days off, most her days were spent working; she flexed the wings behind her back, bright red, extremely eye-catching. She still couldn’t understand why they wanted her to infiltrate this villain group. The group was well known in her city, but she was one of the most popular heroes, she was in the top 3, easily recognizable, especially with the wings on her back being an almost neon color.
As the clock ticked by, she found herself distracted; she couldn’t focus on the book anymore, giving up on reading. She looked at the phone, seeing it was almost time. She left her apartment through her window, flying to where she had a meeting with one of the members of the villain group known as the League of Villains.
It took her a while, but she finally got to the abandoned warehouse they’d be meeting in, entering it without seeing who she was looking for. She waited for the person she’d be meeting, one of her feathers in her hand, sharpened in case she needed to attack the woman she was meeting up with, you could never know when it came to villains.
A few minutes passed by until she saw the shadow of the villain walking towards her, it was the first time she’d meet the other and she was slightly scared. The woman that appeared from the shadows was known only as Dabi, there were no clear pictures of her, few saw her and lived to tell the tale.
“Hey there, little bird” the woman said while walking in her direction, before leaning against the wall. At that moment she panicked, she recognized those words. Those were the same words written on her skin, the first words her soulmate would say to her. Her soulmate was a villain; it was hard to process the fact, her breathing quickened, as they stood there, in silence.
“You’re-“She started, before being cut off.
“Your soulmate, I know, don’t remind me, hero. We might be connected by fate or whatever, but don’t think that I’ll go easy on you, you betray us, you’re dead, got it?” She said, smiling menacingly at her, a hand held up, blue fire on it, beautiful but dangerous.
The villain- No, her soul mate, talked to her, she barely paid attention to the words coming out of her mouth as she analyzed her. She had long, jet black hair, flowing in the wind, her skin was pale as ivory and smooth as porcelain, her eyes were a bright sky blue, as vibrant as a sapphire and as eye-catching as her own wings. She had lots of piercings, one on her nose bridge, lots on both her ears and she was sure she’d seen a piercing on her tongue as she talked. Most notably of all, she had purplish scars most places on her skin, staples holding it together, it looked oddly attractive, not that she’d ever admit it. She wore a white shirt, a long black coat over it going to around her knees, it had rips and tears all around it, all held together with what seemed to be staples, black pants and chunky boots over them.
She looked nothing like the other, she had short brown hair, barely reaching her shoulders, her skin was slightly tan, her eyes were amber, having dark markings around them that she’d accentuate with eyeliner, resembling a hawk like her name implied. She didn’t have many piercings like the other, only having red studs on her ears, the same color as her wings. She wasn’t supposed to get piercings, she was told by the Commission that they weren’t attractive and would bring her rating down, she disagreed, she thought they looked great, she didn’t really care much about her rating anyways, as long as she saved people she’d be happy. She wore a black halter top with a fluffy light brown jacket on top of it, pants the same color as her jacket, and black shoes. They looked completely different, but in an odd way, they complemented each other.
The meeting felt like it lasted minutes, when in reality, it probably lasted longer than that. If anyone asked her what they talked about, she wouldn’t be able to say a thing, spending most of the time subtly admiring Dabi.
“You seem to be legit, but I don’t trust you yet, so you aren’t getting a meeting with the boss, I’ll call you when I have a mission for you, ‘till then, birdie”
“I told you my name isn’t birdie, its Hawks!” She said, annoyed by the reluctance to call her by her name. The other simply chuckled to herself, leaving her alone in the abandoned warehouse as she processed what had happened.
When she got back to her apartment, the sun was already rising, she’d taken her time flying back, appreciating the view, something she didn’t do often, not really having the time for it.
Getting in through her living room’s window, she saw someone sitting on the couch. As she walked closer, she saw the familiar figure of her best friend, Rumi, practically asleep. She sneaked up on the girl, before tapping her on the shoulder, making her startle awake, her rabbit ears twitching as a sign she’d woken up before she even opened her eyes. She turned backwards, about to hit her, before realizing who it was, grunting and getting up after she realized who had startled her.
They walked to the café they frequented, they had a habit of meeting there at least once a week, it was a hero-oriented café so they knew they wouldn’t be interrupted by a fan wanting an autograph or picture. Most of their time was spent with Hawks talking about her soul mate, she gave vague details about her being an infamous villain, knowing that the mission was top secret and they were two of the few people who were aware of its existence. Rumi mostly laughed at her enthusiasm, talking about her girlfriend, Fuyumi.
The next week passed by in a blur, one moment she was getting ready for her patrol, the next she was trying to get at least a few hours of sleep before the sun came up. That all changed when she got a text on her second phone, she didn’t need to look at it to know who it was, the only person who texted her through it was Dabi.
She opened the message, seeing she had a mission to fulfill, she had to do her best to infiltrate the group, regardless of what happened, the mission was more important than her survival, like most things, as long as she could save as many people as possible, she’d be happy, even if she had to sacrifice herself for their well-being.
The mission was quite simple; she just had to sneak into the building of the Commission, the ones in charge of the hero billboards, many hero agencies around the country, and most important of all, her. She needed to steal some information from them, but since it was obviously all accounted for as part of the plan, all she had to do was request it. She got her task dealt with quite quickly, it was easy, and best of all, hopefully gained a bit of Dabi’s trust, she could be trustworthy, she could lie through her teeth and act like she agreed with their cause.
As the sun set, she flew in the direction of the same warehouse as last time, all the information stored on a pen drive stuffed into her jacket so it wouldn’t fall or get lost. This time, as she landed in front of the building, Dabi was already there. They barely exchanged words as Hawks handed the pen drive to the villain. She didn’t thank her and simply walked away, her boots making a slight sound as she left.
This went on for months, she’d get a single text from the other telling her there was a mission for her and she’d deal with it as fast as she could. After what felt like forever, she was finally deemed worthy of meeting the other members of the group.
She checked her phone once more, checking the time before going up to the closed bar. She knocked on the door in the pattern instructed and waited until a girl with blonde hair, who looked like she was 15, opened the door.
“Dabs! She’s here!” The girl said excitedly, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her inside, closing the door before doing so, resembling an excited child.
As soon as she entered the room, all eyes were on her, there was a woman with dark purple hair and bright yellow eyes cleaning some glasses (who somehow seemed to be phasing in and out of existence as if she was made of mist), a girl that looked like she was part lizard, her skin green and scaley, one who wore a black and grey bodysuit, talking with the lizard girl and one playing around with a blue marble, her face hidden by a mask full of intricate details and a top hat, making her look like some kind of magician. Other than them, the girl who had greeted her at the door who she assumed was Himiko Toga was in front of her, Dabi was sitting on a stool, as far away from the others as possible, and the woman she thought was the boss sat in the middle of them all. The woman had blue-silver hair that practically reached the floor with how long it was, her bangs covered her eyes, which seemed to be glowing red behind the hair.
Not really sure what to do, Hawks awkwardly waved at them, until most of them looked away, with the exception of her soul mate and the boss.
Her meeting with the boss was a scary one, the woman was shorter than her, barely reaching her shoulders, but she still radiated an intimidating aura. It seemed they started trusting her, welcoming her into the small group of people that the L.o.V. trusted the most. She felt kind of bad, tricking them, they seemed like they were nice, ignoring the fact that they all had committed various crimes in their lives.
She walked back into the main area of the bar, sitting down at one of the stools as they all introduced themselves. She listened to them, doing her best to remember their names, it would be important for later. She started talking to the woman in the bodysuit, from what she remembered, she was known as Twice. She realized that she had conflicting personalities, most of the time saying what she actually thought first and then saying the opposite of what she did at first in an angry tone, she had to learn to ignore the second voice. It seemed Twice trusted easily; it would be easy to get information out of her, she felt bad, but it was her duty, and no matter how much she wanted to be free, she couldn't imagine a way of freeing herself from the Commission, she didn't even want to imagine what would happen if she tried and failed, she felt a chill down her spine and flinched for a brief moment as she remembered the feeling of fingers ripping her feathers and pulling her hair, thankfully, no one seemed to notice, even if they did, they said nothing.
The L.o.V. was different from what she’d imagined, they could barely be considered villains, at most, they were vigilantes, at least now. They were so close that they looked like a family, she envied them, she wished she could be a part of it, but she’d never be like them, she didn’t belong with them, she’d never fit in, no matter how hard she tried, she was a spy, not an actual part of their group of misfits.
-
She grew closer to the members, often spending her free time at the bar, today was yet another of those days. She walked into the bar, waving to Kurogiri on her way to the back rooms. She got to the back area finding only Dabi there, the others probably already asleep in their rooms.
She greeted the woman, sitting down next to her, hours passed by without much being said; that’s something she liked about their friendship, it wasn’t like her and Rumi, a friendship that had to be filled by endless chatter, one story following the other in quick succession, one that would become awkward the moment their conversation died down, their friendship was the kind of friendship where silence took over most of the time while they simply spent their time together without speaking a word.
Kurogiri passed by them, going to her own room to sleep, or whatever it was that she did, she wondered if she could sleep, considering her body was mostly made of mist. They were now fully alone, she glanced to Dabi finding the scarred woman already looking at her, a smirk present on her lips as they always were, she wondered how they’d feel against hers- She mentally shook her head, she shouldn’t think about her that way, she was a woman on a mission, which meant there were no time for distractions.
She pondered over the moral implications of possibly dating a villain, she was her soulmate after all, those thoughts were immediately interrupted the moment she felt scarred lips against hers, she barely had time to react before they had already left hers. “You talk too much” Dabi said, making her realize she’d spoken her words out loud, something she’d been trained not to do, she felt ghost hands around her throat and needles poking her back, making her panic before realizing it wasn’t real.
The sound of a voice snapped her out of her thoughts. “Uh… are you… okay? You kinda flinched for a second” Dabi said awkwardly, as if she wasn’t used to caring about others, she nodded, not trusting herself to speak yet, still recovering from what just happened. “You… kissed me?” Hawks asked after a moment of recollecting her thoughts. “Well you seemed like you wanted to do it anyways and I knew you weren’t about to make the first move”
They awkwardly sat there for a bit before she spoke, her voice cutting the silence and ringing in her ears. She could barely remember the words she spoke before the villain kissed her again, maybe being a villain wouldn’t be that bad, especially not when it was the League, when it felt so right; it felt like she was where she was supposed to be.
-
“Your next mission is to kill Twice” She flinched. She knew that she’d have to ignore all the people that would be killed by the League, it was a necessary sacrifice that she was aware of, but killing someone? She didn’t want to do that, Twice turned out to be a great friend, someone fun to hang around. She questioned the Commission’s decision, saying her words carefully so it wouldn’t seem like she was talking back, she knew what would happen if she did so and she’d rather not go through the punishment once again, would rather not have hands pulling her apart, breaking her and making it so she couldn't breathe.
“Well, your information has all been important, and we have formed a plan to deal with the League, but to do so, we need to get rid of Twice, her quirk is powerful, letting her live would be a great mistake, you understand that, don’t you, Hawks” The woman said in a tone they both knew was fake, a tone so sweet, but still with an air of danger. She felt the woman’s manicured hand stroke her face, pressing her sharp nails against her cheek, hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to leave any visible scars. She hummed carefully, moving as little as possible so the nails wouldn’t press harder against her skin. She didn’t know what she could do, orders were orders, and she had to obey them, if she did what she was told she could at least pretend the scars all over her body didn't exist, could act like the scratches and marks were never there.
As she flew away from the building, she thought over the words the woman had told her, in a voice overly sweet, as if both of them couldn’t tell it was faked and forced. Over the past months, she had grown closer to the villains, in the time that she was there, she learned about the members own stories, most didn’t want to be criminals, most became villains because of their circumstances and the views of others around them, telling them they were villains, that they could never be heroes, that they were weak and that they weren't enough. She grew closer to them all as a result, especially Dabi and Twice. Her relationship with Dabi was a complicated one, she thought they could be considered girlfriends; she tried to convince herself it was just to get closer to the villain, only for more information to help the Commission. That was one of the biggest lies she’s ever told herself. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t forget the feeling of mismatched lips and vibrant blue eyes looking into hers.
The sun set in the horizon and Hawks was excused from work for the rest of the day; she had to kill Twice soon so the plan could work. She didn’t know what to do, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to do what was asked of her, there had to be a way not to do so, but the only answer she could find was joining them. The woman told her the plan; they planned on involving the students of U.A. Why would they involve children like them? They’d gone through so many traumatic experiences during their first year at the school; they didn’t need to get involved in what would surely become a blood bath.
She couldn't believe what she was about to do, it went against all the "instincts" instilled onto her by the Commission. She still wanted to do it, it was her only chance at freedom, it couldn’t be much worse than having them breathing down her neck and watching over her every move.
“And what do we owe the visit, hero?” Dabi sneered at her as she entered the bar. She called everyone’s attention, they all looked at her, she was intimidated, but it was what she had to do.
“Look, I decided to tell the truth, I was originally a spy for the Commission.” All the people around her were ready to attack her at any moment, all they needed was for their boss to give the signal. She quickly explained the plan and what she had to do, how she could never do it after being with them for those months, and how she wanted to actually join them.
They were still skeptical; she told them all about the Commission and what they had done to her, it felt freeing to finally tell someone the truth, finally be relieved of all the guilt of hiding it, her story resonated with some of the people there and it seemed that Shigaraki was fine with her actually joining them.
-
She was in an abandoned building, the one where she was supposed to kill Twice in. She was nervous about the plan they had created, but the best course of action was to fake her own death. As much as she didn’t want to, she trusted Dabi, they’d grown close, and she was the one who’d help fake her death, having done so before. She took a deep breath and told everyone she was in her position.
It was warm in the room; she could see the crackling fire, bright blue. She had just “killed” Twice; all that was left was for Dabi to do her part. She could hear the shouts coming from the ear piece, she wasn’t sure what they were saying, but she was sure that she could hear someone from the Commission screaming at her for her “incompetence”. Those were the last thing she heard as her vision blacked out.
-
She could hear voices, nothing clear, they were whispered and seemed to be far away. She tried opening her eyes. Immediately, she saw the bright white of the ceiling, burning her eyes. It seemed she had made some noise since they noticed she was awake, a woman with spiky white hair quickly ran up to her, asking how she was. She recognized the woman as Natsuo, one of the newest league members and Shigaraki's soulmate.
The situation was quickly explained to Hawks as she tried to get up, being stopped by both Natsuo and Dabi, who apparently seemed to be worried about her, it was sweet. Suddenly, it dawned on her.
“I’m free! I’m finally free!” She couldn’t believe she’d done it, she was no longer bound by the restrictions of the Commission, words couldn’t describe how happy she was, she was practically crying of happiness.
“That you are, birdie” Dabi said, giving a quick kiss to her forehead, before telling her she needed to rest. Slipping out of consciousness she wasn’t able to see the smile on her girlfriend’s lips as she left, chuckling as she wished her good night, wasn’t able to see that the other members had come to check on her, they were her new family, and she couldn’t have chosen anyone better to live her new life with, maybe being a villain wasn’t so bad after all. This was the first time in years where she felt she could sleep without worry, she closed her eyes again as she felt herself truly happy; her new life was about to begin.