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'Villain Dabi of the League of Villains lined up for execution tomorrow' was the headline that greeted Keigo that morning.
Most of the original League members were arrested when they were spotted on a grocery run last week. According to the Head Commissioner they were all pretty tight lipped about the remaining League members. Of course when Hawks asked them about it his handler frowned and said his mission was over and therefore would not need to know about it. Displeased by his 'curiosity' they forced him to go patrol with Endeavor.
"Why are we patrolling here?" Hawks asked, yet again, pretending to forget that he asked the same question when they started the patrol.
"Hawks, how are you even No.2 hero if you can't remember those details," Endeavor growled, "The remaining at large League members might attack UA to get a hostage exchange."
"Oh right," Hawks says nodding even though he knows that the League have been avoiding big confrontations since they found out that he and Dabi were going to have a chick.
It seemed like it was going to be a boring day so Keigo's mind drifted off a bit remembering how Shigaraki hovered around awkwardly and Kurogiri tried consoling him when the rest of the League were arrested. It was only supposed to be a grocery run but they got caught when a kid tripped and grabbed onto Dabi's coat, revealing the scars they were supposed to be covering up.
"Hawks! Pay attention!" Endeavor yelled, shocking Keigo out of his memories.
People were yelling as someone ran away with a civilian's purse. Endeavor growled, pushing people out of his way to get to the villain. Hawks sent some feathers with him to keep the bystanders from falling and getting in Endeavor's way.
"Endeavor-san! We don't know his quirk yet!" Hawks yelled, not wanting to get in a confrontation with an unknown quirk.
Hawks' comm crackled, "Big Bird, man was spotted near the recent quirk accidents, his quirk could be some sort of quirk activation. Keep your distance, Boss."
"Kay. Thanks, fledgling," Hawks said, chasing after Endeavor, who clearly did not get the 'keep your distance' message.
"Hey man, watch it! He might have a contact quirk!" Hawks said, holding Endeavor back as his feathers hooked the thief's clothes. He sent his long primary feathers to push the man down and restrain him but the thief suddenly grabbed the feather and all Hawks could feel was the pain in his back as he lost control of the instincts he tried so hard to keep buried, especially around Endeavor.
He crashed to the ground screaming and clawing at his back. The thief himself was frozen in fear, terrified at the unexpected reaction, but when Hawks stopped screaming he didn't go for the thief, he turned to Endeavor. His eyes were wild, wings much larger and gloves and boots torn showing sharp talons.
Endeavor stepped forward to yell at him, "What are you doing?!"
Seeing Endeavor, Hawks growled and in movements faster than he's ever gone he was on Endeavor clawing him with his talons in a flurry of screeches and sharp feathers.
Aizawa came running out of the school gates with Present Mic to try and gain control of the situation.
"You killed him! You killed Touya!" Hawks yelled, digging his talons into Endeavor's already bloody shoulders.
Endeavor's face was bleeding, the right side of his face bleeding in an almost mirror image of the incident with Hood. His uniform torn in various places and short feathers sticking out of his side. Endeavor was grappling with the hero perched on his shoulders, setting himself aflame in powerful bursts to try to get him to let go but Hawks had no care for the flames, just keeping his wings away. With his feet firmly latched on to his prey's shoulders, he gripped Endeavor's hair, yanking it backwards as he brought his other hand to grip his neck.
Frozen at the sight of their No. 2 hero attacking their No. 1, Aizawa could only listen to Hawks' yelling and screeches.
"You have some nerve becoming the number 1 hero after what you did! We had a future 'till you killed him! You left me alone for years! Me killing you will be a mercy for all the pain you've caused us."
Snapping out of his frozen state, Aizawa ordered Present Mic to secure the still terrified villain on the ground as he tried to stop Hawks.
"Hawks, calm down! Let Endeavor go. We can talk about this," Aizawa said, carefully coming closer as he activated his quirk, hoping to cancel out whatever was causing the change.
"No! I need to make him pay! He took my mate!" Hawks screech and just like that he used his talons to tear out Endeavors throat.
Aizawa scrambled towards them, using his capture weapon to secure Hawks but it was too late, Endeavor was dead, bleeding out on the street.
Hawks just sat on the street breathing heavily as more UA teachers poured out of the gates and surrounded him. Present Mic takes out his cell phone stating that he will report it to the HPSC. Unfortunately for them Hawks' heightened hearing catches it.
He lunges in Present Mic's direction despite being tied yelling, "I'll kill them! They just watched Endeavor kill my mate! I'll kill them!"
Shocked, Present Mic drops the phone, scrambling away as Aizawa tries to calm him down saying they won't call the commission and Midnight uses her quirk to knock him out.
"He said a few concerning things," Aizawa stated, glancing at the unconscious Hawks who was cuffed to the railing of the bed.
Present Mic nodded, "We still need to call the HPSC but we won't let them take him."
"Let's hold the interrogation here then I will arrange for him to be transferred to one of the centers for physical quirks," Nezu said, leaving the clinic to make the arrangements.
"You were very lucky today. I checked him and everything is natural except that he is on partial quirk suppressants, it could have been worse. I think the villain had some sort of quirk that amplifies the quirk of those he touches seeing as it only started when he grabbed the feather Hawks was using to pin him. This is just from what I can gather, you should still ask the villain about his quirk," Recovery girl tells the teachers, tending to the small burns on Hawks’ arms.
"I didn't know he had talons," Present Mic states, "Isn't his quirk 'fierce wings'?"
Recovery girl shrugged, "Many people hid the animalistic parts of their quirk because of discrimination and some people are even raised not being aware of it."
"He is a good hero though, why would he hide it if it was part of his quirk?" Aizawa asked.
"You can ask him about it during the interrogation," Recovery girl said, shooing them out.
It was later in the afternoon when Hawks finally woke up. Recovery girl checked on him in case there were any hidden injuries before calling for Nezu and Aizawa. Nezu immediately climbed onto the bed when he and Aizawa came in.
"Good afternoon. I am Principal Nezu. Are you aware of what happened this morning?"
Startled by the speaking animal by his legs, Hawks speaks slowly, "A bit."
"Just in case I will tell you now. You and Endeavor were assigned this morning to patrol in the UA area. There was a thief which both of you pursued, you kept your distance and tried to communicate that to Endeavor."
Hawks nodded, "My sidekick informed me that he might have some sort of quirk activation and that I should be careful."
Aizawa licked his lips, "Well that's where things went wrong. You used your feathers to pin him so he grabbed it and activated his quirk. We questioned him already and he said his quirk was just a quirk enhancer and that he didn't expect your reaction to it. It only enhances your quirk in a way that for example if your quirk was double strength you would have four times your regular strength. You on the other hand not only had bigger wings but also talons. You ended up killing Endeavor before we could restrain you."
At Hawks' unaffected face, Aizawa narrowed his eyes, "I take it, this does not surprise you?"
Hawks shrugged, "It's not the first time my quirk got out of hand nor is it the first time I've thought of killing him. What will happen now?"
"Well, are there any current assignments you have?" Aizawa asked to make sure.
"I just got released from my undercover with the League of Villains so as far as I know I'm not up for anything yet."
"Well then, you got aggressive when we tried to contact the HPSC so we will be the ones handling this case but normal procedure will still follow. You will be interrogated tomorrow then we will transfer you to a detention center. You said a few things while attacking Endeavor so we would like to gather a bit more information for the investigation," Nezu explained.
"Mhm okay but I can still feel urges so I'm gonna need a mild tranquilizer that will last for the rest of the day and maybe start fading when the interrogation is starting, The commission used those on me while I was growing up so you'll need the high quality ones or they won't work," Aizawa looked ready to ask him about that but Hawks kept talking, "Also I want the interrogation live streamed and that lie detector detective present the whole time. Thirty minutes only though."
"We can comply with your conditions but forty five minutes for the interrogation," Nezu stated, his beady eyes focused on Hawks' golden pools.
Hawks just shrugs, "Okay but no questions about the HPSC, anything you want to know about them, you can look for. Now I'm going to sleep, just get me when the interrogation is ready."
After that Hawks just lay down and ignored them until they showed themselves out.
"For the record can you please state your name and quirk?" Aizawa's gruff voice asked.
"Civilian name 'Hawks' Quirk 'fierce wings'," Hawks replied.
Aizawa furrowing his eyebrows, "Is that what it says on legal papers?"
"Yes."
"What is your birth name and what is the real name of your quirk?" Detective Naomasa asked, switching the question up a bit.
Hawks is still heavily affected by the tranquilizer causing him to slur his answer, "Takami Keigo uhh my quirk was female hawk, physical qualities and instinct, and I could control my feathers."
Satisfied with the specific answer, Aizawa moved on, "Could you tell us what happened yesterday when you attacked Endeavor?"
"The thief was running away and Endeavor kept chasing after him but his quirk was still unknown so I tried to stop him from physically engaging. Suddenly there was like a sharp pain in my wings and there was a feeling similar to when I'm growing new feathers but really fast."
"Has this happened before?" Aizawa asked, prompting him.
"Mhm. The commission put me on mild quirk suppressant ever since they got me. There was a villain I encountered a few months ago who canceled out any medication of the person he touches. The group I was supposed to be spying on took care of me. Quite funny actually since it was an unspoken fact that I was spying on them."
"Can you tell us why you attacked Endeavor?" Naomasa asked, shifting in his chair, uncomfortable at how casual Hawks mentioned that he had been compromised.
"I-I don't know," Hawks said, his voice stuttering, "It was like all the pain he caused us was rushing at me and I was reminded of all the time we lost because of him. I just let instinct take over next thing I knew he was bleeding and I was restrained on the street. Kind of like when you realize you're repeating a bad habit."
"Is this 'we' you keep mentioning you and 'Touya'?" Aizawa asked.
"Yes," Hawks answers slowly, surprised and suspicious, "How do you know Touya?"
"You mentioned him when you attacked Endeavor. Can you tell us more about Touya?"
"Touya was my mate. We aren't married or anything but due to my instincts I mate for life and we were gonna be together forever but one time our handler collected him for training and he never came back. They told me it was a training accident and he cremated himself to death," Hawks explained.
"When you attacked Endeavor you were yelling about him killing Touya but now you say he cremated himself to death. Can you please explain this?"
Hawks clears his throat, eyes dashing from the camera to the one way glass of the room, "I could smell Touya's blood on him when I trained with him the next day, you can't hide that scent from someone with an animal quirk. Besides, no one was able to push Touya that far aside from him."
"Where were you during this incident?" Naomasa asked.
Hawks' face turned red as he avoided their eyes, "I just had my heat and even though my mate helped me I still have to recover. Our handlers weren't happy when we mated during my first heat so they always doubled his training when my heat was over."
Naomasa took note of what he said, citing a possible child abuse on the margin of his pad, "Can you explain to us what this 'heat' is?"
"Oh uhh it's just the gender specific part of my quirk. Even if I’m technically a guy, since my quirk is female hawk I have a mating season that is similar to that."
"How about these 'handlers' you speak of?"
Hawks makes a few nervous chittering noises before answering, "Just as the title says, they handle us. Our training, our meal plan, our missions and our punishments."
"Punishments?" Aizawa asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Ah yeah. You know, if I'm too slow or my feathers aren't accurate enough or Touya burns out too fast. Sometimes they just do it for torture training though."
Failing to hide how horrified he was, Aizawa asked, "Can you tell us the names of these 'handlers'?"
"They changed a lot through the years and we don't really get names. I mean I've been with them since before I was 10 so the faces really change a lot," Hawks paused a bit before quietly adding, "They worked in the HPSC."
Remembering the conditions Hawks set before, Aizawa fumbled for the next question to ask, "Uh. Aside from having been the reason for Touya's death, are there any relations between Touya and Endeavor?"
Tilting his head in a bird like manner, Hawks answered like they just asked a stupid question, "What do you mean? He's Todoroki Touya! Enji's first born son."
Aizawa's face turned white and Naomasa tried to ask another question but Hawks' jaw snapped shut as he pointed to the clock.
Time was up.
Aizawa stood up and escorted Hawks out of the room.
"You will be transferred to a detention center that specializes in quirks with physical and instinctual aspects," Aizawa told Hawks nodding to his wings, "We also put in a request for tranquilizers instead of the quirk suppressants they usually use because we don't want to disrupt the effects of the villains quirk and overdose you with the ones you already have in your system. Just let it run its course and rest. You might be brought in for another interrogation so be prepared."
The ride was uneventful but being in a car still made Keigo anxious so he was relieved to finally arrive at the center. Some of the anxiety went away when he saw that Spinner had also been placed in the same facility.
After getting his shot, he was left in the shared area by the guards. Spinner came over chirping to make sure he was okay.
Hawks chirped back at his flock mate as he was led to an isolated table near the door leading to the individual cells.
"How's the chick?" Spinner asked lowly, careful since no one aside from the League knew.
"Fine so far but I think it might have been affected by the stress," Keigo replied.
"If there isn't any pain I think it's okay, just rest for a bit."
Keigo nods pretending that he doesn't know what will happen when Dabi dies.
They spend the next few hours with Keigo starting to dissociate and Spinner trying to ground him by asking what kind of features he hopes the chick has.
It is late afternoon when the TV announces the live execution of Dabi.
Spinner flinches when it flashes Dabi's bloody face and he tries to comfort Keigo who was on the verge of tears at seeing his mate's pain.
All of a sudden Keigo stands up, not being able to see how it will end.
"The sounds will still reach me but I'm gonna go."
"Are you not going to watch?" Spinner asks quietly.
"I already know what's going to happen," he replies just as quietly, "If they ask tomorrow, you have my permission to tell," he says heading for the door.
"What do you mean?" Spinner asks, hunching down when a few eyes turn to them.
Keigo stops in the doorway at the question, "You will understand in a while."
"Today we will witness the execution of Villain Dabi of the League of Villains. He has committed murder, arson, assault, property damage, kidnapping, terrorism, incrimination and illegal quirk use. For these crimes he is sentenced to death by firing squad," the announcer turned to Dabi who was standing with his hands tied, surrounded by a semicircle of armed men, "Any last requests?"
Dabi grinned, staples pulling on his skin, he was going to break the system even if he was dead.
"DNA test me tomorrow and tell my siblings the result," Dabi turned to the cameras, face relaxing and his eyes softening, "Oh and Kei, love, I'm sorry for leaving you again."
Just as those words leave his mouth, multiple things happen at once. The shots are fired, Dabi's body jerking forward, a desperate wail fills the center and a squelching sound is heard.
Spinner doesn't stay to watch his friend's dead body fall. He races to Keigo's cell, desperate not to believe his instincts regarding the wail but as he gets closer he can smell the metallic tang of blood. He collapses crying over Keigo's body as blood seeps from his chest and pants. Worried inmates follow him into Keigo's cell, pale faced and anxious as they peek in. Anger fills the group quickly. Anger at the loss of an unborn child. Anger at the loss of the newly widowed. Anger at the center for implementing quirk suppressants that stopped them from sensing their fellow inmate's grief.
"Can you tell us what happened yesterday afternoon?" the head supervisor of the center asked.
Spinner glares at the question, "Isn't it fucking obvious?! You damn heroes killed him!"
Despite his aggressive tone, the interrogator remained calm as he pulled out a laptop with the footage of the incident.
"As you can see, Hawks clawed out his own heart after the noise disturbance he made. Can you tell us what you know that would lead to him doing this?"
Spinner scoffed, "You call that a noise disturbance? That's a cry of a newly widowed. You killed his mate, what were you expecting? For him to go on his happy merry way?"
"Do you know who his mate is?"
"Do I know? Everyone here could smell it on him," Spinner slammed his hands on the table, leaning into the man's face, "Us, a couple animals you locked up in a cage dosed high with quirk suppressants can understand what happened the moment we saw it, while you, free ranged fully humans, can't? Did you even get his autopsy results? I bet he miscarried just as you killed his mate."
"Can you tell us who his mate is?" the interrogator repeated.
Spinner huffed at him, sitting back down and crossing his arms, "You can find out on your own. Not like there's any family left to stop you."
After that he refused to speak anymore saying that the answer was right in front of their faces.
Detective Naomasa was lost. No one in the detention center was willing to speak and the only option left would be a DNA test if they had someone to compare it to.
"What if it's Dabi?" a tired voice supplied, snapping Naomasa out of his musing.
He gave Aizawa a bone tired look that screamed 'WHAT THE FUCK'.
Aizawa shrugged, "Spinner said heroes killed him and the time Dabi was executed lines up with the time Hawks died."
"But during Hawks' interrogation didn't he say that Touya was his mate and that he died already? Besides that he said that they mate for life."
“Dabi’s last words were apologizing to ‘Kei’ whom he called ‘love’,” Aizawa said, insistent on his theory.
Naomasa opened his mouth to answer but found no words. Suddenly his phone rang, the lab results for Dabi's DNA were out.
"Dabi's DNA was a match to the Todoroki family. Positive as son of the late Endeavor and sibling of Shouto Todoroki."
Naomasa was silent for a few seconds prompting the Doctor to ask if he was alright.
"Ahh- Thank you, doctor. Please send over the official documents as soon as you can," Naomasa finally replied.
"The doctors said that Hawks was already 13 weeks so let's try Dabi's DNA on the child," Naomasa said, putting down the phone, finally accepting Aizawa's previous statement.
Tokoyami was sitting in the common area when he was watching the morning news.
'Pro Hero Hawks found dead in detention center'
"We have a report that the recently detained Hawks had died the other day in the detention center. We also have reports saying it was suicide and he was at least 13 weeks with child..."
Tokoyami just stared. Last he saw of Hawks was drugged up during the live streamed interrogation.
'He lost the child,' was Tokoyami's first thought, 'Who was the father?' was his second.
As if fate heard his thoughts, the newscaster was stopped and they started showing a live video, "Spinner, a member of the League of Villains, was also being kept at the same detention center and is willing to answer some questions for us."
Aizawa passed by as Spinner came out on screen, 'He seems calmer now,' he absently noted.
"Can you tell us what happened yesterday?" the reporter asked.
Spinner nodded, "We were watching the news about Dabi when it happened. Before the whole thing I asked him if he was going to watch but he said that he didn't want to and that I have permission to tell."
"Tell what?"
"At first I didn't understand but when it happened everyone who could smell him would understand."
"What do you mean?"
"Just as Dabi was shot, there was a distressed wail and a squelching sound. I'm pretty sure that was when Hawks took his life," Spinner said clenching his fist, "They showed me the footage when they brought me in for interrogation. He clawed out his own heart. If I'm not mistaken, Dabi was also shot in the heart. I knew they fucked sometimes but I didn't know they were a mated pair," by this time a few tears were slipping down his scales, "We are all on suppressants here but if not, I think we would have caught onto his distress. I should have stayed with him! Maybe he wouldn't have killed himself after losing his mate and chick! I should've-" Spinner lets out a distressed wail, prompting the other jail mates to crowd around him and let out their own chirps and coos.
An inmate with a beaver quirk came up to the reporter, nervously thumping his tail, "I- I think you should try on another day. Everyone is pretty on edge since the whole quirk suppressant thing. No one has been able to sleep since the miscarriage and the widow suicide."
The mouse reporter nodded numbly as she was led away by the cameraman, clearly affected by what Spinner said and the wail.
"Tokoyami...," a gruff voice called, snapping him out of his dazed state.
He turned to Aizawa with damp feathers letting out tiny chirps.
"I'm sorry," he said quietly as he wrapped his arms around his student.
Tokoyami buried his beak in Aizawa's neck, seeking a parental figure to cling to in his loss.