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This was a disaster, that was the only thing Eraserhead could say after the War with the PLF ended up with the abominable video being broadcasted everywhere. He lost one eye and one leg, but that was minor injuries considering… everything. He simply couldn´t believe it yet, that Nemuri, his dear friend Nemuri, was now as gone as Oboro was. One minute she was there and the other… that damn Gigantomachia!! He was going to kill that guy if he ever put a hand on him. Anyway, him and Hizashi had just finished their conversation when Nezu called to inform them that they had just apprehend Aoyama´s parents. The two of them were wary, but utterly relieved that their son was going to be kept out of the mess and without any kind of criminal record. Glad even.
It had been a surprise when Dabi and Hawks arrived covered in burn marks… well, more than usual for the black clad villain. Tokoyami had practically dragged the two of them, fleeing from a wave of Decay as Shigaraki noticed that they were traitors. Aizawa frowned when he heard the tale. Apparently, the Commission had given their double agent the mission to assassinate Twice so the war could be less of a hopeless cause. Dabi, being the good boyfriend he was, tried to help him to… well, not killing Bubaigawara, but to take him somewhere he could be treated for his mental illness and didn´t cause more trouble. Unfortunately, Twice was already too fond of the League to accept the deal. He fought the couple using doubles of all the members of the League of Villains. It was a tough fight, but the two managed to come out as winners… until they found out that the masked villain had sent a double to warn his fellow members and brought the wrath of the Leader on them. Presently, Tokoyami was the only reason the idiots were alive.
“That you got for doing everything alone” Aizawa scolded, crossing his arms. “But frankly, with all the disasters that has been happening recently…”
“Yeah, I know” Keigo said, holding up what looked like a burner phone. “The Commission President and several of her officers had gone into hiding. The exposition of their child soldiering program and how they acquired the children… the HPSC is finished after all this.”
“I don´t know, they are a bad fungus… but I have to give it to the villains, they landed a fatal hit into the reputation of the whole Hero Society. Only the damage control we prepared beforehand allowed it to cling to life.” The teacher sighed. “It´s going to be though to recover from this.”
“What you say” Touya talked as he let Shouto ice his wounds. “Where is my bastard father? Thought he would take this opportunity to kill me.”
“He is outside hunting villains and sulking somewhere… according to Nezu. Don´t worry, his days as a hero are numbered. He is not getting away with this anymore.”
“Good” the eldest Todoroki child smiled, then something occurred to him. “Are you not going to need his help and repent, no?”
“Even if we need his help, he is not getting out without a punishment. It´s not how justice works. And right now, Japan needs to see justice being done to all the heroes that wronged the public, which includes their own families.”
“Great, I have been waiting for…”
Hawks frowned when he finished saying this, getting up from his bed in one fluid movement and marching straight where Recovery Girl was taking care of a group of recently arrived refugees. Aizawa followed, wondering what the hell did he think he was doing, when he noticed another pair of red wings with, surprisingly, Toshinori. His expression turned hard. What was Shinyo Takami doing there? He knew Tartarus was attacked and the prisoners fled, but he had hoped that, at least for his son´s sake, he would stay in his cell. Unless he had some explanation. And, by what he was doing, he seemed to have.
“Okay, it´s all fixed n…”
“Dad!! What are you doing here?!” Keigo approached, his hands on his hips, a mad expression on his face. Well… mad as mad as he could manage to be with his father. “Thought you would stay in prison until I could get you legally out.”
“Yeah, well… that kind of was the plan until All for One became the new Warden of the prison and started to hunt the hero supporters… then Stain needed a lift to hand over some important documents to the heroes and… when we managed to find All Might… what remain of him, at least, he also needed a lift here and…”
“Wait, you helped STAIN get out of prison?!” okay, now someone was mad.
“Oh… yes, I… owe him a favour for helping me out of a tight situation in Tartarus…”
“And what a bad situation it must have been!!” Recovery Girl suddenly got in. “He had the entire bones of one arm shattered in three perfect pieces!!” Shinyo suddenly got still as a board and his son lifted an eyebrow. Aizawa could feel the anger in Hawks increase. “I almost thought it was the work of a…”
“A quirk, no?” the younger blond looked completely livid. “Was it someone we know, dad? Perhaps really well?” the older raptor didn´t seem to want to answer. “Was it JUNTO?”
“Kei…”
“Tell me, dad? Was it your vulture of an older brother, my dear uncle Junto? Was it him?” tension was rising too fast there. And the silence seemed to be enough answer for Hawks. “It was him!! Dammit, dad!! Told you that reconnecting with him was no good idea!! Not even if you were put in a tiny cell together!!”
“I... frankly, I was not in my right mind. Besides, after he stayed in the infirmary looking after me…”
“That´s not…” the hero growled before lowering his voice a bit. “Look, I know you two have history together, but you have history together and for far longer than he and I had. There was a reason why you didn´t want him around me when I was younger. The only time I really interacted with him he used his bone manipulation quirk to hurt me and…”
“I know!! I know!! Junto is crazy and I should have kept him away, as I did for ten years before Endeavour arrested me!! But… back in Tartarus, before we reassumed contact, he was the only one I could reach out because… dammit, I was so hurt and it made me so nostalgic for the time when he was actually family…”
Shinyo suddenly looked guiltier than ever. And Keigo, despite trying to hide it somehow, as he undoubtedly was happy that his father was safe and with him, was angrier than ever. Dabi, besides his boyfriend, seemed to be deep in thoughts. Also frowning, as if something was bothering him. They all were broken out of those thoughts by Shouto when he asked where his monster of a father was ruining his reputation more than it already was. Not that he cared, but they were going to need the flaming trashcan as a human shield when Shigaraki arrived with his army. His words, not his teacher´s.
“Leave Todoroki to me” the older Takami offered when he heard that. “He knows me and I know him. We despise each other, but he will listen to me if he has to. I can make him see reason.”
“Didn´t you try to kill him like a hundredth times?” Keigo asked.
“That doesn´t mean we don´t know each other more than we are both comfortable admitting”
The Thief wanted to go alone, but Eraser was not comfortable putting any of Endeavour´s victims, villain or not, in his range of fire so soon after the revelation of his crime, so the underground hero decided to follow him. The raptor actually went where he was supposed to go, walking towards the raging inferno that was Enji Todoroki without fear.
“Hello again, sunshine” he said, actually having the gall to light a cigarette in one of the fallen hero´s flames. “Come back from Hell to…”
“Cut the crap, Takami, you didn´t escape for. Not even to haunt me, so get out of my way and towards your damn, problematic chick” the raptor actually put himself in front of the fire hero. “To hell with… don´t you have other things to do? Like making some nests for when your damn son comes home? I remembered you kept mentioning something about buying him shoes that time with your wife and at that manor…”
“Keigo has more than enough shoes now” he crossed his arms. “And can you stop throwing your tantrum and actually focusing on what is important?”
“Please, you don´t want me or anyone on my side getting out of this alive. You hate heroes” then something came up to his mind. “Or you hated them until your son was made one. Is that why you are asking me to work in a team? So I could serve as human shield for your son in case he screws up?”
“Dammit, Todoroki!! Can you stop feeling pity for yourself one second and actually act like a hero?!”
“You are the last one that should be telling me this!! You hate them since you were that scrawny, dirty teenager that tried to rob me off my wallet when I was a first year UA student!!” Oh. Was that a lifelong rivalry what Aizawa was hearing there? “Besides, you have been expecting this for ages!!”
“Expecting what?” Shinyo was now confused.
“This opportunity to brag that you were right about me!!” what? “You told me that I was a terrible parent that time we talked after you helped me catch that mutant parts dealer!! And also told me that you were just waiting for me to overdo it!! To immolate someone, to become the monster you always thought I was… well, here you have, now brag and leave!!”
“I told you that we were both terrible parents, not only you”
“Said the one whose son has an altar for”
“Please, Keigo is very aware of my shortcommings…”
“Yes? Since when?”
“Since a long time ago, but the most recent one is when I decided to welcome Junto fucking Takami into our lives again” as if called by the mention of his name, Junto descended from the sky… with two white wings attached to his back. Surprising, because the last time Aizawa had seen the man, he was wingless.
“What the…” Enji started. “Isn´t that the guy I arrested with you?”
“Yes” the raptor said, biting on his lips. Somehow, he seemed to be struggling with something… and not only seeing his brother in the other side on the battlefield. “That´s my brother, Junto Takami.”
“Your brother?” Enji asked, surprised. Also… there was something about that one that bothered him in a way that not even his younger, more annoying sibling did. And Shinyo was incredibly annoying. “For some reason I believe I have seen him somewhere else… other than the arrest…”
The vulture attacked in that moment, surprisingly tackling his brother. The raptor surely wasn´t expecting that… or at least was slowed down by something else, allowing the vulture to grab him. Only Aizawa´s intervention allowed him to get out of that death grip without any broken bones. Of course, then the undergrounder had a very angry, very strong vulture on him with his jaws open. Endeavour had to shot a burning fist towards Junto to stop him and restrain him with quirk suppressing cuffs.
“I´m doing this for your own good, Shiny!! And for Keigo´s too!! All for One is going to win this fight and you don´t want to be on the losing side!! And I´m not going to let you!! I´m not going to let you DIE!! NOT LIKE THEY DID!! NOT LIKE MOM DID!!”
“SHUT UP, JUN!!” Aizawa focused on Shinyo for a moment. He looked… freaked out. “Jun… to… didn´t you notice… that you are wearing Saguru´s wings?”
“Yes, I know” the older Takami looked unhinged as he answered. “He was such a good brother, no, Shiny? At least he left something behind for me to remember him, for me to use. All for One returned me his wings in place of the wings I sacrificed for our lives back when we were in Harima´s group. Don´t you remember, Shiny?” this one shuddered. “Sagu is still with me like this… he isn´t dead…”
“Come” Eraser said, practically dragging the Thief. Endeavour just followed with the other brother.
-------------------------Back in UA---------------------
“Dad!!” Keigo approached, embracing his shaken father. Then frowned when he noticed his least favourite people there. Snipe came then to take Junto somewhere he could be contained until they recovered Tartarus. Dabi also approached to give his father the finger, but stop frozen when he saw the vulture.
“Hey, I know you!! Weren´t you the guy that once passed as my teacher to hold us hostage?” Enji suddenly remembering from where he knew Junto. It was from the footage of that attack. “You snapped baby Natsu´s legs and… and…”
“The little charred boy, what a surprise. I see that little Keigo inherited more from Shiny than it is noticed” he chuckled to himself. “Oh, if only your daddy had cared enough to come… then you wouldn´t have charred your body and leave lifelong consequences. Or maybe if another member of your family had cared… but no, daddy was busy with little Shiny and mommy and the girl just ran…”
“Shouto was unborn and Natsu a baby, Yumi a child… they wouldn´t have been able to do anything” Endeavour had the gall to look guilty about that. And he should be. “The only one that should feel guilty is the bastard and he is hopeless.”
“Touya, I…”
“Keep it, I don´t want to hear you”
Aizawa shook his head. He could see that Endeavour was guilty about something, but… he wasn´t sure if it was because he was a monster to his family or because he was caught. Anyway, there was guilt there and perhaps it was a good signal. That might do the work to punish him until they could make sure he rots in jail. For now, there was another matter he should attend to…
“Dad, are you alright?” Hawks asked, giving Shinyo a glass of water. He had never seen his father so shaken. “Junto… what did he say?”
“Yes, what did he say?” Eraser approached, asking despite having heard the entire thing. “During the fight you mentioned a Saguru… I think he was the original owner of Junto´s new wings” the raptor shuddered. “Was it… Shirofukuro Saguru?” both Takamis looked at him. “I revised the Birdflock incident a lot of time, come to know a few names. And he was mentioned as the killer of one of Yoroi Musha´s sidekicks. He was also one of the oldest sons of Hagetaka Keshu. With a female named Shirofukuro Himari.”
“Hagetaka Keshu… I thought I would never hear that name again. Yet I couldn´t stop thinking about him when Keigo entered my life…”
“What? You never…”
“He was your father, no?” Aizawa finally let out. A nod was his only answer.
“The females in his band… Shirofukuro Himari, Katashirowashi Ahmya, Takami Isago and Shirawashi Kamiko… they were his lovers, no?” another nod. “Now, I know that Yoroi Musha is a quirkiest freak, practically all people know now, so, if he handled the incident…”
“I don´t want to talk about it”
“Well, someday you will have to talk. I know that you don´t believe in heroes, but, I need to know about the incident. I need to know so you and your family can have the justice they lacked” Shinyo shook his head. “Look, Yoroi Musha killed children in that incident, but I can´t proceed without an eyewitness account. And the only witnesses not on Musha´s side are you and that demented vulture you call a brother.”
“I… I don´t know if I can be of help, really. I… was only twelve when it happened. Besides, I wasn´t in the action, like Junto was” he sighed. “We… Junto and I woke up early. It was our turn to prepare breakfast, so we better hurry before Keshu woke up. If we didn´t have it ready when he did, he would beat us halfway to dead” he breathed in and out. “we were taking everything out of the fridge when an explosion in the dorms part of the lair threw us against a wall.”
“So you ran to help and found heroes falling over your family.”
“More like the parents and over fifteen fighting and the little kids running and screaming” he bit his lip. “A mess, so Junto told me to find our little brother Tsubasa and ran with him, that he would take care of mum… I started screaming Tsu´s name, searching among the little chicks… I tried to help some escape, I tried, but the sidekicks were merciless and everywhere and… I reach Tsu just in time to see a sidekick grab him and break his neck. Snap it in two… you know, he could have just handcuffed him, but… he snapped my little brother´s neck in front of me.”
“God” Keigo covered his mouth with his hands.
“The next thing I remember was that man coming on me and Junto appearing, ripping his neck off and yelling that we had to leave. That mum was dead and dad was wounded and we had to leave… He dragged me from then towards safety. Over the corpses of our little siblings, many of them not even ten years of age.”
“Were you the only survivors?”
“No, Saguru y Chisa also managed to get out. Saguru… he was the oldest by the, like a month below his maturity… made some calls to some of dad´s criminal partners and got us a place in a boat to China…” he actually showed his fangs remembering that. “All four of us hid in a dirty motel until… we should have known the HPSC wouldn´t like that there were survivors that could tell the history…”
“You believe they sent Yoroi Musha to you?”
“Or someone did, because we were sleeping when they reached us. Chisa was the first to die, a wall fell on her. Saguru put himself between that monster and us. The last thing I knew about him was that he yelled at Junto that he was the oldest now. That he had to take care of the youngest… even if it was just him and me by then” He snickered. “Maybe that´s why he became crazy.”
“Maybe” Aizawa felt that there was something more in there, but refused to interrogate him further. Not when Shinyo was clearly shaken by a reminder of the past. He was also sure of one thing. To clear this up, he was going to have to talk to Junto.
“Shouta, what…?” Hizashi tried to stop him in his tracks.
“I need you to come with me” the undergrounder instructed his husband. “We are talking to the vulture.”
------------------In the improvised cell---------------------
“So you want to talk to me, heroes” Junto Takami said when they entered. “Thought you would just throw away the key after catching me.”
“What happened during the Birdflock incident?”
“What?” he looked surprised.
“The Birdflock incident, what happened there?” the vulture seemed unsure to answer. “Look, I already revised it thousands of times and talked to his brother, but I want to know what happened from the eyes of someone that actually fought there.” He glared at the bird. “You were fifteen, no?”
“Sixteen”
“Better, what happened?”
“You already talked to Shiny, you must know”
“And he was twelve, I´m sure you know more about that family than he ever did” Junto actually smiled. “You do, no?”
“What a clever emitter you are, Eraser. I knew you were from the beginning… and consider yourself a friend of the mutants. Why is that?”
“Sh…”
“My quirk was considered villainous back when I was still in school. You can get what happened” the vulture grinned. “I said something, it´s your turn.”
“Let´s see, the Birdflock… Yoroi Musha handled it, no? Yes, I remember that monster… one second I was rubbing sleep out of my eyes while me and Shiny prepared breakfast and the next there was a bunch of heroes there fighting the adults without a care that the children were there. I flew away from the panicking and slaughtered chicks… then found my mother trying to shake the sidekicks and screaming our names.”
“Takami Isago.”
“Yes, she… she was great. Despite the situation, she ever took care of us and… I think that´s where Shiny got his parenting instinct, he… had always resembled her greatly” suddenly he looked nostalgic. “I… never told Shiny the truth…”
“What didn´t you tell him?”
“That it wasn´t the sun. The sun didn´t blind me, it was… I got scared. I got scared and couldn´t save her. Father was fighting with Yoroi Musha, but was losing. The hero could have killed him in the next blow, but he grabbed my mother and used her as a shield. He… could have stopped, I know he could have, but choose to murder her only to get to Keshu.” He took some time to compose himself. “In another note, I think they could have saved the women and several of the chicks or stop the teenagers, but slaughtered them nonetheless.”
“That´s where your views about quirkism came from?”
“No, they came from different sources” Junto seemed awfully chatty now, more than in Tartarus. “But that helped. Especially when I learned that Yoroi Musha knew from the beginning that there were going to be little kids there… and missing women.”
“What?”
“Oh, you didn´t know?” he smirked. “Of course, how were you supposed to know, when it´s not in the official report or the ones given to the media…”
“Then why are you aware of it?”
“Old family secret” he then moved a clawed hand. “Also, when the Commission cleans a hero´s mess, they always keep evidence against him to keep him in his place. And I have good informants. Tell me, Eraser, do you want to know?”
“Not at all price” Junto smirked. There was the opportunity to negotiate.