Chapter Text
Extravagant galas, Keigo had decided, were actually a lot of fun.
Or at least they were when they focused on celebrating heroes, introducing this year’s fresh batch of sidekicks and interns, sharing hero news, and just showcasing the latest tech and updates from support companies and some of the big players like UA and the HPSC.
Some of the others, which were held just to stroke certain Number Two hero’s egos were less fun, or one of the many celebrating All Might, who, in later years, kept conveniently missing due to stopping some petty crime or another. He couldn’t blame the man, he just wished the HPSC would let him pull the same stunt. Small talk with heroes who couldn’t care less about whatever was being celebrated was rather. . . annoying.
Keigo had never been much of a people-person. It came more from his peregrine falcon genes than his Harris’ hawk ones.
Sliding over to the buffet, he grabbed a glass of something brightly colored, hoping it was alcoholic. He wasn’t allowed to get drunk, but the atmosphere was easy and light, and Keigo would love to relax just that little bit more.
Round tables lined the hall, some heroes sitting, others standing. The HPSC hall was decorated in white with accents of cyan and gold, matching tablecloths and vases filled with flower arrangements. The buffet was off to the side, with few heroes lingering around since dinner had been served and cleaned up less than an hour ago, but Keigo always had a high metabolism.
Across the room, Endeavor was chatting stiffly with Edgeshot. All Might was nowhere to be seen, as per usual, and Miruko was off chatting animatedly with the Wild Wild Pussycats and Thirteen. Ms. Joke was on stage, lightening the mood after nearly four hours of support presentations. This was the fun part of the night, when everyone sat back and got to-
“Excuse me,” A woman called into the mic she had taken from Joke. The hero didn’t seem to mind, heading off stage to chat with Sir Nighteye, who was looking around the room with a peeved expression on his face. He always got that way when All Might missed an event.
The blonde woman was one he recognized. Tall and voluptuous, she had a cat-like turn to her eyes and a pale blue-green scale mutation along half her face. Her name was Hebi Aoi, and she’d been one of his handlers and managers when he was still in the HPSC. She’d left his life before he started his hero career, stating she was needed on some other project for the HPSC. He’d said good riddance, if only privately.
Hebi waited for people’s attention to turn to her before curling her mouth into a bright smile that looked jagged and cruel to him. “Hello hello! I’m Hebi Aoi from the HPSC, director of the Future Heroes Division and current lead on a very special project that we are so excited to release here today!”
Oh, god. He didn’t like the sound of that. Or how he had to fake a smile as a lot of people started to clap and gave him knowing looks without really knowing anything. While it was no secret he was trained by the HPSC to become a hero, the duration, custodial agreement, human trafficking, and obscene amounts of child abuse were not public knowledge. Aoi flashed him with her cunning grey eyes, looking vicious as ever - god, don’t let this be some announcement that they were taking on another prodigy. He couldn’t take seeing it all happen again, but this time, helplessly from the outside.
“Over the last few decades, the HPSC has been doing a significant amount of research into quirks and genetics,” She announced proudly, people hurrying to set up a slideshow behind her. “It’s been a long and arduous process, but we made some significant progress, that we would like to share with you! In the HPSC’s ever-expanding goal to provide the best equipped heroes for the future of all of us, we have started what we call Project Chimera!” Behind her, the slide showed the words “Project Chimera” in bold font, with a little title stating, “A Path to A Better Future.”
Keigo narrowed his eyes at that. Something fishy was going on - this wasn’t some breakthrough on how quirks worked, he could smell it.
She flipped to a new slide, showing a gene strand and some highly technical text he didn’t understand. “Many of you may have heard the myth of a long ago villain who could steal quirks and pass them on to others, a common enough fairytale, though no one was ever able to provide proof of it. We, at the HPSC, know for a fact that this myth was false - being able to transfer quirks is a highly valuable skill and asset, and any team to gain such an ability would surely overtake the other in no time at all.”
Best Jeanist lifted his chin from a few paces away. “You expect us to believe you found a way to transfer quirks?”
She gave a little giggle that Keigo did not like, at all. “No, no, nothing of the sort. That’s frankly still a complete impossibility. We have, however, taken a deep dive into genetic engineering.”
The entire gymnasium fell dead silent. Keigo felt a cold, ominous sweat creep down the back of his neck. The woman didn’t seem to notice the suddenly chilly atmosphere, continuing on with the same happy grin twisted across her face.
She rambled, at first, about genes and structuring. How close we were to genetically engineering before quirks came to be, and how it has technically been possible for over a hundred and fifty years. When she got done with theory, she flipped to a new slide, examining. . . examining bird mutation anatomy.
“As a way to get ahead of such possibilities as multiple quirks, the HPSC has spent much time in developing the perfect hero: First with our very own Winged Hero: Hawks, and now, with his little brother!”
His little what now?
Hawks- Keigo didn’t have a brother - his father was incarcerated when he was only six, after all. There definitely weren’t any little brats running around the house before that. Unfortunately, the very next sentence answered all his questions, and made things much, much worse.
“Project Chimera was an embryo produced from donor parents, one with a strong, known, capable quirk like Hawks’ father, and the other was a lesser-known woman with a mild quirk so as not to interfere with the added genes. He was created and raised in a test tube to distance him from his parents and ensure he had only the best start to life and the best nutrients and pre-birth stimuli. And, after much hard work, we introduced our very first viable chimera embryo into the world almost fifteen years ago!”
What? What. What-
His brother was a test tube baby? Some genetic experiment produced by the HPSC in secret? He had a fifteen year old brother who was created not born, who had been alive for fifteen years, and Keigo didn’t know about him. Never met him, never heard of him, never- never-
Oh god. Oh god he wasn’t there for him. Keigo had a brother created, likely from less-than-willing parents, as he doubted his imprisoned father would ever agree to shit for the HPSC, and he wasn’t there for him. He didn’t protect him.
His heart was pounding as the woman flashed bright, proud teeth at them, exposing glinting fangs. He hated her, oh god did he hate her. He wanted to scream, to yell, to hit someone. He wanted- He wanted-
He wanted to see his brother.
“Chimera is our first ever synthetic human, made as a mix of animal mutations to show the success of his multiple quirks.” She flipped a screen to show a list of animals present.
Keigo saw the two that he was attributed to - peregrine falcons for their speed and the Harris hawk for coloration. Other than that, the list was. . . long. There were so many animals listed, and his heart only hammered harder. Was his brother even human anymore? Was he functional? All those quirks couldn’t make it easy on him, there was a reason mutations rarely mixed with each other! The instinctual backlash could be horrific.
They’d stuck mostly to predators, it seemed. A few stood out, like winter white hamster and orchid mantis. Others made sense - big, scary predators like snow leopard, striped hyena, silverback gorilla, and marble fox. But it was such a range, and they were all shoved together, and hadn’t the HPSC thought this through? Shoving a dozen quirks into one small body and just, seeing what happens? Why wouldn’t they start small, with one other bird quirk? This was all so much.
“And this year, due to his success in training and on the field, we have decided to enroll him into UA, giving the public its first taste of future heroics. But first, we wanted to share his debut with all of you here today, and answer some questions. Now, Kyoji? Can you bring in the specimen?”
A man with a gigantism quirk lumbered in through one of the massive side doors, lumbering at a massive three and a half meters. In one hand, he held-
A cage. It was a little cage, like a massive cat carrier or a dog kennel. No noise came from inside.
He knew what was in there. Their “specimen.” Their “Project Chimera.”
It was Keigo’s little brother, and this was the first time he was ever going to see him.
A hand on his shoulder made him jump and whip around, catching worried scarlet eyes. “Are you okay?” Miruko asked.
Normally, Keigo would lie. Today, he didn’t see the point. She knew, she could see it plain on his face, he was sure. Even if she couldn’t, what was the point lying for the HPSC when they were going to turn around and do this to him?
“No,” He rasped, voice feeling oddly hoarse. She only nodded, and he got the impression she knew he’d been just as clueless as them, which was odd considering the dirty and mistrustful looks thrown his way.
They turned back to the stage as the cage was opened. “Chimera, come.” The woman commanded, and Keigo got his first look at his little brother.
He was a person, still.
That alone took Keigo’s breath away. He’d expected some lovecraftian monster to crawl out, all twisted parts and bits that didn’t match. It seemed some of his traits didn’t show through, at least not from what Keigo could see. He was in white sweatpants and a simple white shirt, with soft, delicate features that looked too young for his age. His eyes were wide and green until they caught the light, reflecting gold.
Except. . . they didn’t change back. His eyes had shifted gold and stayed that way.
The boy had freckles that definitely didn’t come from Keigo’s side, but his body was covered in spots and dots from all the quirks, anyway. The wings on his back were massive and feathery and twitching in a familiar way - catching air vibrations he wasn’t used to. They were twitching in discomfort from overstimulation.
Beside his eyes were small patches of dark feathers, black with white detail and undersides, just like his wings. He had the same phenomenon on the inside of his forearms, and seeming coming out of a slit in his pants on the backside of his calves. On his head he had a a curly mop of green hair with little black fox ears poking out and swiveling nervously. A spotted white leopard tail that seemed impossibly long also twitched behind him, his eyes flicking around curiously as he stood unnaturally still.
He was lean, but there was no mistaking the raw muscle on his arms. He might not technically be as buff as Miruko, but Keigo got the impression he could easily overpower her in an arm-wrestling challenge. Must be the gorilla mutation. He wondered if it contributed to the fine black patch of hair along his forearms, ending at the back of his hand and right around his elbow joint.
Then, the oddest thing happened. His feathers, ears, and tail shifted from a black and white pattern to a bold, multi-color one, to blue one, and then to a soft white and pink gradient before settling back on the black and white it had originally been on. It happened so fast, Keigo barely had time to take note of the spots that lined his feathers, too dark to see in its resting state.
Hebi smiled. “Here’s a fun fact about Chimera. While he’s a natural predator and does love meat, he also retains a special love of fruits and vegetables. Chimera.” His brother moved for the first time since exiting his cage, turning to look at Hebi blank-faced.
Could he even express emotion? Could he feel it? The Winged Hero’s heart tugged painfully. Was it the over-abundance of quirks, or the conditioning? Could Keigo have prevented this?
Miruko grabbed his arm, grounding him slightly. Thank god she was here - as much as they bickered, he knew he could count on her.
“There’s an apple hidden in this room.” She announced, and the only indicator that he heard was his feathers and tail stilled while his ears perked, moving just slightly every couple of seconds as if to take in more sound. “I want you to find it. Any means necessary, no civilian casualties.”
The child held still for a moment, then, abruptly, twisted and bound over to his cage. He leaped on top of it flawlessly, then quickly up onto Kyoji’s shoulder, the man stumbling just a bit in shock. It didn’t affect Chimera though, nor did Hebi so much as blink as she narrated.
“Chimera has a variety of sensory enhancements, perfecting his ability to seek things out by just the smallest of scents or sounds. His leopard and fox quirks give him incredible balance and agility, allowing him to maneuver and leap around in small spaces even without use of his wings, which function much the same as Hawks’ own.”
The lithe boy leaped again, dropping just as deftly onto a table on the other side of the room.
“His powerful snow leopard legs give him the ability to jump some fifteen meters! Due to the use of marble fox genes, he can also leap ten feet straight up. There’s no holding down this feisty little guy!”
Keigo felt sick.
Ears twitching, his head swiveled from side to side, paying no mind to the rather surprised group of heroes gathered around the table. It was the UA table, Keigo noted. Snipe, Powerloader, Vlad King, and Ectoplasm all looking in shock and horror at the kid that was now right in front of them.
Nedzu, however. . . Nedzu had a blank, stone cold expression as he watched Chimera.
That was more telling than anything how furious he was at all this.
After just a second, Chimera was off again, broad wings opening as he shot straight off the table. As big as they were, he and Keigo shouldn’t be able to do that, instead needing to take a running start like other large raptors. However, the telekinetic feathers helped them significantly when it came to lightening the load and maneuverability.
Swooping to another table, his hands outstretched, exposing long, wicked claws. Kamui Woods tensed, but Mt. Lady jerked back with a fearful gasp as he lunged towards her from the sky.
Before anyone could move again, he was flapping his wings, air born, a decorative chest that was on the table clutched tightly in his claws.
“Chimera’s vision is incredibly accurate due to his hawk genes, although his magnetoreception certainly helps him know exactly where he is at any time! Like a pigeon, this little bird can always find his way home - or, to the target! Watch close now - we sealed that apple into that chest and melted the steel closed. But it’s no problem for Chimera!”
Sure enough, it wasn’t. He navigated easily back on top of his kennel, sitting crisscross before inspecting the little box. After only a few seconds, he brought it up to his mouth, exposing two fangs and sharpened teeth, and bit as hard as he could. Once a puncture hole was made, he tore into it with ease.
“Part saltwater crocodile, he has a bite force strong enough to break steel! His gorilla genes came in handy here, too, giving him enough power to tear and bend it as well. Enjoy your reward, Chimera!”
And he was. In the first display of emotion since he appeared, Chimera looked pleased as he crunched into the apple. The box was dropped next to him, forgotten as he ate.
Someone sucked in a sharp breath. “He’s eating through the core! Apple seeds are poisonous!”
And he was. He bit right into the core of the apple like he didn’t have a care in the world.
“Ah, yes, well,” Hebi looked a little sheepish. “There’s not enough cyanide in one single apple to kill anyone, and he’d have to puncture the seed first. It’s likely he’ll miss them entirely and the whole thing will be harmless. Besides, his predator genes make him incredibly territorial over food, and several animals are less than picky in their diet, meaning he’ll eat almost anything. It’s safest for everyone involved to leave him be and let him eat.”
But with a bite force so strong he could break steel, would Chimera even notice he’d bitten a seed? Why were they giving him an apple with a core if they couldn’t take it away? Worry furrowed Keigo’s brow.
“That’s all for this expo!” She cried cheerily. “We wouldn’t want to show Chimera off too much on the first go, now, would we? Rest assured he still has many tricks up his sleeve! Are there any questions?”
And like a pack of wolves, they descended.
“What the hell is this?” Miruko shouted. “Genetic modification? Test tube babies? Synthetic humans?”
“Is this ethical? You treat him like an animal!”
“He’s being trained, not raised! What are you doing? What were you thinking!?”
“Something like that is far too dangerous - how could you make it? Is it even human?” Keigo’s heart stopped at the same thought he’d had.
It was at least a little satisfying to watch the overwhelmingly horrified reception wash the smug look of Hebi’s face. She looked completely taken aback by their reaction.
“It’s not expressing emotion,” Best Jeanist pointed out, eying Chimera warily. “Can it even talk? How can we expect something that can’t think for itself to be trusted as a hero? We have to make tough calls every day - can it even make a call?”
“Yes!” She beamed. “Chimera is a fully functional human, and capable of independent thought as well as many higher reasoning skills. We made sure to train his critical thinking and correct moral responses in high-stress situations. His silence was trained into him.” He felt sick. Miruko didn’t look much better. “Chimera, speak!”
Chimera swallowed, jerking his head up. Like before, emotion seeped vaguely across his face - surprise, and. . . nervousness?
“. . . Hello?” He said at length, voice quiet. It echoed around the now silent room.
The silence didn’t last.
“He’s a person!” Someone shouted. “You said so yourself, fully functional, capable of independent thought and higher reasoning. You can’t just train a person into silence!”
“W-well!” She blinked, looking lost. Chimera was engrossed in the last few bites of his apple again. “Chimera isn’t really a person, he’s just a synthetic one. He wasn’t born like you or me-”
“But he was born,” That was an underground hero, Eraserhead. Keigo didn’t know him well. “Test tube or not, he was born. He can think. He’s got a human’s genetics. He is as much if not more of a person than Nedzu himself.”
The woman looked shocked by this. “Nedzu was born naturally, even if he is an animal. Chimera was not - he was creation, made for a specific purpose. He’s closer to a hammer than anything.”
Loud protests rang out. Chimera was licking the remaining juice off his hand with an abnormally long tongue.
Right, frog mutation.
“Perhaps in this sort of situation,” Endeavor put out, eyes narrowed as if in deep thought. “It’s imperative we take it- the boy.” He corrected. “In. A hero on the billboard charts would be best. Someone we could trust to raise him with the correct mentality for heroism.”
“If that’s what he wants,” Eraserhead snapped. “He can choose a different career, if he wants.”
“Don’t you think it’s best for someone like him to use his talents for heroics?” Endeavor dismissed, but Eraserhead only looked more pissed.
“What’s best is for him to choose for himself what he wants to do. He could be an accountant for all I care, at least he’d be happy.”
Present Mic leaned in closer, whispering to the Undergrounder. Keigo breathed. He had allies here - people saw what they were doing. They were trying to help.
“Whatever,” Endeavor waved off. “My point stands. He’d be best with someone who could show him the way of the world, and keep him on our side. Guide him along the correct path.”
People murmured and nodded, agreements echoing louder.
“Who, though?” Jeanist scoffed. “Who here is just going to take on a strange child-”
“I will,” Endeavor jumped in immediately. “I’m the highest ranking hero here-”
“Um, excuse me?” Miruko snapped, all eyes drawing to them. “What the fuck? You’ll take him? Why aren’t we putting him with his family?” She jerked a thumb back at Keigo, who startled a bit. People cast him unsure looks.
“Well, considering he’s done nothing to stop this-” Death Arms started, but Miruko wasn’t having it.
“He had no idea!” She hissed. “You think he’d let this happen?”
Nedzu raised a hand, and all eyes turned to him. Beady black eyes levelled an impervious stare on Keigo, but he wasn’t fooled by it. “Did you know, Hawks?”
“No. . . .” He glanced back over to Chimera, watching the crowd blankly. Their eyes met, and he noted his brother’s were green again. “I didn’t even know I had a brother.”
People hissed furiously at Hebi. Others nodded along, agreeing Hawks was the best choice. He was the Number Three, after all.
And standing there, staring at wide green eyes that didn’t seem to blink, he couldn’t help but think he wouldn’t mind taking Chimera in. If for no other reason than to keep the HPSC away from him.
“Excuse me?” Hebi hissed. “We’re not just handing Chimera over - We’ve spent years perfecting him!”
“The people have decided,” Nedzu responded calmly. “They think it’s best he stay with family. All children should be with family, don’t you think?”
“He has no family, he was created in a tube,” Hebi snapped.
“Did you not market him as Hawks’ little brother?”
“Well, I-” She let out a furious breath. “It’s true they share a biological connection, but that’s where it ends. Chimera’s biological parents signed away rights to him before those first cells even merged into a zygote. He belongs to the HPSC.”
“Is it not protocol to ask other family if they are willing to take a child in before strangers?” Nedzu inquired.
“He has no other known family, and Hawks was barely eight when Chimera was born. He couldn’t exactly take him in.”
“He should’ve been made aware of his brother’s existence,” Eraserhead snapped. “You were training Hawks, why didn’t you ever tell him?”
“It would have gotten in the way of their training. Chimera is only so functional now due to his lack of distractions in his youth.”
“Distractions?” Present Mic frowned. “Has he ever known any kids his age? Did he go to school?”
“We taught him what he needed to know. And we’re going to prove it,” She snapped. “Chimera will be taking the recommended exam for UA this year, in ten months’ time. In order to gain exposure in the hero world, he’ll spend all three years at UA. You can watch his progress there, and see for yourself how successful our program is.”
“He should be with his brother,” Miruko growled. Keigo’s wings twitched, sorrow and fear clawing at him.
And then, surprisingly, he felt an answer. Looking up, he blinked at Chimera, who had picked up the subtle vibrations his feathers rubbing together caused, and answered with his own. He stared back at Keigo with open curiosity, and more than that. . . sympathy.
He needed to get his brother back. He twitched his own wings soothingly, hoping the boy understood he was okay. He only got a slow blink in response.
Turning to Hebi, he grimaced. “He’s my brother. I want to see him.”
“No.” The answer was easy, commanding. She thought she still had her claws in him. Fuck her, fuck the HPSC, he was cutting them out, now. After this, after all this, what did she think, he was going to roll over and accept this? He narrowed his eyes as she explained. “You’ll distract him. He needs to study.”
We’re going to beat him until he does what we want.
Keigo set his jaw. “I’ll fight this. Every step of the way, I’ll fight this.”
“Do what you want,” She snapped, breezily. “He’s ours. We created him. We raised him for years. He has a stable home, and food. He’s been provided for. No one will take him out of our hands to give him to some twenty-year-old.”
Keigo was going to need a damn good lawyer.
Hebi waved her hand at Kyoji, who had watched the whole spectacle quietly. “Chimera, return. Kyoji, let’s go. We’ll show them how much good Chimera will do when he’s in UA.”
Chimera, without second thought, pushed off the kennel and crawled back inside without a fuss. Kyoji locked it, and Keigo watched, helpless, as he was taken away.
He wanted to fight back, to send his feathers and know the heroes here would back him. He wanted his brother safe.
Instead, he was uncomfortably aware that they were in an HPSC building, with HPSC issued lisences, totally unprepared for a fight, trying to take away what was functionally HPSC property. There were too many unknowns, and not a single hero rose to try anything. It broke Keigo’s heart to watch that kennel disappear through the door.
Nedzu spoke again just before Hebi made her exit. “We look forward to seeing Chimera’s growth as a student at UA.”
Subtly, Keigo turned to look at the conniving rat. There was a gleam in his eye and a reserved note in his voice. Something Hebi didn’t pick up on. Her snake quirk had always left her a little socially stunted.
She beamed. “We look forward to a fruitful school year as well. Take good care of our project, Nedzu-san.”
“Oh. . . we will.”
She gave him a bow before heading out, and Keigo felt his wings loosen a bit. Multiple eyes turned to watch him, but he couldn’t give a shit. Instead, he turned, striding up to Nedzu’s table.
He pulled a pen he kept on him for autographs, snatching a clean napkin and quickly scrawling across it. He pushed it over to Nedzu. “Keep me informed.”
“Of course.” A slight nod. Good.
Keigo turned, stomach roiling, and headed for the exit. He needed a long flight almost as bad as he needed to get away from all the watching eyes here. This night- this night had gone to shit, fast.
Suddenly, his legs felt weak, and air came harder to his lungs. Was Chimera going to be okay with the HPSC for ten months? Could he and Nedzu even hop to get him out before then?
As he pushed outside, taking off into the air, he couldn’t help thinking back to green-gold eyes and twitching feathers, wondering if he’d be credited as ‘at fault’ for tonight’s disaster.
Keigo’s heart ached.
Chimera scowled, curling up on his soft tan blanket in his room. What an odd day.
There had been so much yelling. Chimera didn’t like yelling. He didn’t understand what everyone was so mad about. He’d done good, hadn’t he? He was told to fetch the apple by any means, and not to cause any casualties. No one had even been scratched! But he had seemed to scare that lady. . . .
He blinked twice, hard. Perhaps he’d messed up. Perhaps that was why everyone had looked at him with wide, horrified eyes when he was in that room. Perhaps that was why his handler had been cursing and shouting since they returned.
Perhaps that was why the other winged man had looked so sad.
Chimera didn’t want him to look sad. He didn’t want anyone to be afraid, either, but he really hated when people were sad. Maybe he could have done something to make him happy?
He blinked, frowned. They weren’t sparring, though. He could only ever make people happy by doing what he was told and winning in a spar. But he’d done what he was told and they weren’t sparring.
He huffed, cacooning himself in his blanket. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be so mad tomorrow. They always hit harder when they were mad.
Chimera drifted off, hoping he could meet the other again. He’d like to apologize, for upsetting him so much.