Chapter Text
“Shoto, kiddo, child, young grasshopper, little shit, I promise you, you can pick out a better hero name than just your name.”
Looking to his younger brother Touya was in the middle of a debate over his chosen hero name. Shoto, the bright kid he was, the student who was brought into UA on recommendation, a pro hero's son and brother, with endless resources at hand. Choose his own name. How creative.
“Touya, adult, dusted urn, bigger piece of shit, I don’t like any of your suggestions so it’s staying the same.” The monotonous voice of his younger brother made his sentence delivery that much funnier to Touya, a smile spreading across his face as a gruff chuckle escaped him, laced with an early morning haze in his tone. A hangover ghosted the sides of his head, clutching at its interior like a child with a favored plush. Touya had a long day in front of him and decided to pregame it the night before. Of course he knew the consequences though he still cursed the fact that the previous night's drinks favored his skull like so. Still, the old alcohol couldn’t pull him from his older sibling's duty of annoying his younger brother. Especially because it was such an easy task to accomplish.
His coffee mug remained gently hovering over his lips, eyes narrowed with skilled playfulness, “I’m just saying, knowing how dense you can be I can see the confusion light in your eyes now when a reporter calls you by your first name, and you ask yourself, ‘How on Earth do they know my name?’ forgetting that it’s quite literally your hero name.” The other squinted his eyes up at the older man, a glare settled on his expression as he tied his shoe in the meantime, “Says the one who was so angsty he chose a name that translates into cremation.”
Touya merely tsked at the come back, waving his hand at it as if he had heard it a million and one times before. (He had.)
“Say whatever you want about the name Dabi, but it’s still leaps and bounds ahead of just Touya, even dad did better than that, and he’s the slowest in the family,” he sipped his coffee once again, savoring the taste as it slipped down. Biggest plus about staying at his parents home is that the old man pays for the good stuff. It definitely helped on long nights, “Though, I do fear you’re giving him a run for his money, pro hero Shoto.” Shoto merely rolled his eyes, standing up straight, “Oh no, Lord Shadow Dabi Darkness Dementia Raven Way, whatever shall I do? My ego is crumbling.”
“Actually the name is Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, if you’re going to make fun of me and compare me to My Immortal, at least do it properly.” Shotos' expression remained trained in unimpressed stupor, “You’re not helping your case.” Touya shrugged his shoulders, “Don’t care, but I still corrected you.” A sigh from the younger escaped him, “I hope someone pulls out your nose piercing.” Touya, ready to push it further, exclaimed with a shocked gasp, a hand pressed to his chest in faux anguish, jaw dropped in disbelief as he stared at his brother, “Oh little one, so violent! Who has acted like such a terrible influence over you baby brother? How dareth they?”
His brother only sighed at Touyas antics, especially at such an early hour. He was typically asleep until past noon, hardly ever working mornings and when he did he would warn the family at dinner the evening beforehand. “What are you even doing up anyway? I thought you had a night patrol today? You should be asleep, if dad found out you’re up already he’s going to find a way to ground you.” Now it was Touyas turn to roll his eyes, “Twenty three years old and the man still tries to punish me like I’m twelve,” he sighed, rubbing at his eyes he couldn’t help but feel more tired at the question. With his joking persona faltering he looked over to his brother, “I’m looking into a specific criminal. A few interesting reports came in, and it seems as though they’re heading to my area if his pattern keeps up.”
Shoto only raised his brow at the remark, the universal sign of questioning though Touya was clearly uninterested in answering, “Another time. Maybe I’ll let you in on the secrets of the grown up world if you pass the licensing exam, which, if logic serves me right, you have to get to class in order to pass.” He smirked at his younger brother, waiting for a response with visual glee. Shoto straightened up a bit as he delivered on his brother's expectations, “As long as I can get away from you, I’d be willing to do anything.” He hummed back, throwing his bag over his shoulder, quick to leave, “Have a nice day.”
Touya went to yell something in return but the other had already left, opting to instead grumble to himself, “Careful what you say asshole.” With a sigh he leaned back on the counter, the cold granite pushing itself into his lower back. With Shoto gone his head was quick to shift to the day's criminal focus.
Touya Todoroki is the son of Endeavor, the new number one hero. While the hero rankings haven’t fully updated, with All Might gone the order would only adjust itself accordingly.
This would bump Touya up to the second place spot.
Having that fact sink in was a strange feeling. Knowing that the only person in front of him was his father, and while the old man didn’t plan on retiring any time soon the feeling of something wouldn’t pass and he couldn’t even put a name to it. A sigh left him, while Endeavor certainly helped his popularity boost, it didn’t mean he wasn’t killing himself with hero work. He felt the need to prove himself. To push himself and go further in this life. He didn’t want his ranking determined on the face of his father.
So when he learned of a certain villain's running patterns, and a few reported sightings of him he couldn’t help but feel as if he found something to make him stand out. Something that will prove his worth as a hero.
Hawks.
Hawks has been a high risk villain for years now. Danger level nestling itself between an S or S+ ranking. His first fatal crime is said to have happened as far as six years ago, the only means of identification were a few red feathers. The only thing they knew at the time was that the perpetrator had red wings as a byproduct of their quirk. It wasn’t until three years ago that cameras actually captured footage of him. He was completely covered up, a thick jacket covering his figure, pants loose to make dramatic flying motions easier, thick boots, and a bird-like mask disguised his face, almost akin to a plague mask. The fact that the man had a preferred theme made Touya chuckle. Yet over the years it had been dialed back as the Shie Hassaikai delved into the bird and plague mask motif as well, and became synonyms with it.
Hawks clearly didn’t want there to be any sort of confusion between the two.
In fact, he was so considerate of his own reputation in relations to other villains he was moving away from conflicting villain territories. Even going as far as hiding in top ten heroes' cities to avoid them. It made Touya’s brows pinch at the idea. Thinking back to the contents of the manila folder he had obtained he couldn’t help but find the villain to be a curious being in their world.
He avoided other villains like the plague, showing some severe disinterest in them, even as they've reached out to him to form some kind of alliance. He doesn’t mind close proximity to heroes, yet doesn’t target them. To which Touya isn’t sure if he should be more or less concerned over that fact.
Especially considering he’s one of the most proficient and dangerous hero killers just after Stain himself.
He’s murdered roughly a dozen pros, several cops, and a handful of undercover agents.
Yet he’s never targeted any of them. There’s been no signs of him actively going to stake out in an area, just for these specific victims. In fact on the other hand there have been several pro heroes singling him out and he has purposefully just left them unconscious or injured them with the potential to recover. There was an unseen judgment system behind Hawks, that he followed like a religion, yet there were no connections that any other pro had seen. At least none that were shared. Most just tried to avoid him for the most part.
He wasn’t interested in heroes. He wasn’t interested in villains. He only seemed to kill those who target him, but there have been more than plenty he’s let go.
Hawks was an interesting tale of a person. Almost like a figment of a hero's imagination.
There’s no background knowledge of him. No one knows the full extent of his quirk. He hasn’t done anything else besides petty theft, and even then those crimes were sparse. No one has been able to get any personal information from him, and not a single hero has seen this man's face.
Touya smiled.
Guess he’ll just have to be the first.