Chapter Text
The bitter wind makes Hawks wish he was eating something warm. Yakitori straight from a Fukuoka food stall. A bowl of miso soup. Maybe some cup ramen. Instead he’s holding onigiri, lovingly made by his mentee’s mother. It may not lend heat to his gloved hands, but it’s tasty and well-made. It makes him nostalgic for a childhood he never had.
Tokoyami seems perfectly happy as he eats, sitting next to Hawks on their rooftop perch. His cloak is tight around his shoulders and Dark Shadow is curled around him, but he still shivers as the breeze passes through.
“You can tell me if you’re cold,” Hawks says between bites. “We can drop a few stories.”
Tokoyami glares at him.
“I can bear it.”
Hawks laughs at the melodrama.
When he pops out a wing and holds it behind Tokoyami to shield some of the wind, the kid huffs in dismay. He tends to not like when Hawks lends a hand (or a wing). The kid is stubborn, like most heroes and most teenagers.
Hawks just smiles and turns back to the view stretching out before them.
To Tokoyami, the moment is nothing special. It’s their lunch break. Per Hawks’ own advice, taking lunch on a rooftop allows a hero to stay alert. But really, to Hawks, a rooftop lunch break means a little more.
He has seen other heroes break bread together while on team-ups. Mount Lady and Kamui Woods. Endeavor with his gaggle of student interns. Miruko with whichever low-ranking local hero she is assisting. It’s a staple of heroics. One that Hawks has never had the time to indulge in. His sidekicks are never able to pin him down. R & R isn’t really Hawks’ style. But it’s one of the many reasons he’s become fond of his intern.
Tokoyami never fails to challenge him. He’s not afraid to call Hawks out on his bullshit. Most people don’t bother trying. No one but the HPSC has much sway over Hawks. Tokoyami Fumikage is an exception.
“What do you think about having noodles after this?” Hawks asks.
Tokoyami shivers again.
“We have work to do,” he says flatly. “You’re already talking about dinner?”
“Hey,” Hawks defends, “something has to get me through the day.”
“Are the rewards of heroism not enough?”
There aren’t many rewards. Not for Hawks. He laughs and says, “Hardly.”
Tokoyami is quiet for a moment and then says, “Yakisoba might entice me.”
Hawks cracks another smile. He hums in response. His onigiri disappears with a final bite.
-
He regrets his suggestion to drop by the agency. He figured it would look professional to stop by. When Tokoyami’s around, Hawks always finds himself thinking about how to be a good role model. Or at least be a better mentor than he was when he first took Tokoyami under his wing. Meeting up with his sidekicks at the agency to check in seemed like a good professional and responsible move.
He doesn’t regret it at first.
Tanager greets them in the lobby. He’s a sidekick that was hired for his avian quirk. The man can produce birdsongs high and shrill enough to disorient opponents. His shock of yellow hair and brightly colored uniform complete his songbird aesthetic.
He waves at Hawks and Tokoyami.
“Hawks!” the man chirps. He offers Tokoyami a more polite greeting. He nods and says, “Tsukuyomi.”
Tokoyami nods back.
Groove, the other sidekick scheduled for work today, makes a timely appearance strolling out a nearby elevator. With skates on her feet and the ability to make light with her palms, she moves swiftly like a human automobile. Her eyes lock on Hawks and she heads at him like a heat seeking missile.
“Finally gracing us ground-dwellers with your presence, huh?” she snarks.
Groove is one of Hawks’ few sidekicks that speak their minds about his habit to fly ahead and get the job done before they can actually assist. She always pins him with an unimpressed gaze. It never has an effect on him. Nothing compares to the cold stare of the HPSC president.
“Hoping to see more of me?” Hawks teases, raising his eyebrows to give his half-hooded eyes a more suggestive expression.
Groove gags.
Sometimes she reminds him of Dabi. Maybe because of her cropped black hair and the sting of her gaze, though mostly because of her attitude. Hawks doesn’t know what to do with that thought.
He nudges Tokoyami with a wing and says, “Ladies love me.”
Tokoyami’s red eyes take on the same unimpressed look as Groove’s. He doesn’t bother responding. He turns to Groove instead, bowing in apology.
“Why do you torture yourself working for him?” he asks her.
“Tokoyami-kun, I ask myself that everyday,” Groove sighs.
Tokoyami hides a smile. Tanager lets out a birdish laugh that reminds Hawks of the trills and coos he has to hide.
Even with Groove bringing her attitude, Hawks still doesn’t regret stopping by. The feeling floods him when his secretary, Amari, suddenly appears. She looks apologetic as she approaches. He’d like to blame it on her being young and nervous, this is her first job after all, but she only looks that way when she has bad news.
“Hawks-san,” she says politely, “I was just about to message you. The president is here. From the Hero Public Safety Commission. She’s already set up in the seventh floor conference room.”
“For a meeting?” Hawks asks.
His secretary nods.
“You don’t have one in the books, sir, but she insisted,” she says.
Hawks nods and forces a smile.
Rarely does the president show up here in Fukuoka. Meeting with her once every two weeks is already enough. He is by no means delighted by this surprise.
Hawks sighs, but says, “Thank you, Amari.”
His secretary takes her leave and Hawks turns to Tokoyami.
“Sorry, but we gotta take a rain check for our evening patrol.” His wings droop and he slouches a bit, conveying how he’d much rather be here than up on the seventh floor crammed in a conference room with Madam President.
“Why?” Tokoyami asks.
Hawks raises a brow. “Because I have an emergency meeting? With the HPSC? Did you not hear Amari?”
Tokoyami rolls his eyes.
“Why do I have to stay here? Won’t Tanager and Groove still patrol?”
Tanager and Groove bob their heads in tandem.
“Yeah, but I won’t be there,” Hawks says.
“Your expertise as my mentor is always appreciated, Hawks. But I can go with them. Without you.”
“You’re an intern,” Hawks shrugs. It’s a lot easier than explaining how it’s his responsibility to watch over Tokoyami. That it isn’t safe for Tokoyami to survey for villains without him. That, although Hawks trusts Tanager and Groove to take care of Tokoyami, Hawks would rather keep an eye on the kid himself. Given Class 1A’s history, Tokoyami has already been through too much as is.
Hawks waves a hand in the air and says, “We’ll make the rest of today a paperwork day. You gotta get used to the boring parts of being a hero too.”
“Don’t you usually pawn off your reports on Amari?” Groove unhelpfully interjects.
“Or me,” Tanager groans, hanging his head.
Tokoyami puffs his feathers and Dark Shadow suddenly appears over his shoulder.
“We’ll be perfectly fine with Groove and Tanager.”
Hawks fights a frown. He forgets Tokoyami is comfortable with him now. He pushes back when he doesn’t agree with Hawks.
“Tokoyami–”
“The entire stint of my first internship with you, I was left behind with them anyway. You were always way ahead.”
Hawks opens his mouth to argue, but Tokoyami makes a solid point. He supposes the kid has already interned before with only sidekicks around to support him. Hawks…definitely isn't proud of that.
Tanager claps a hand on Tokoyami’s shoulder that he quickly draws back when Dark Shadow nips at him.
“We can watch over him, boss.”
“Ye of little faith,” Groove huffs in Hawks’ direction.
Hawks still isn’t swayed. Not completely. But Tokoyami looks eager to return outside. Tanager beams with his sharp smile. Groove looks tired of the conversation. And time is ticking. Madam President is waiting. She hates waiting and worse than that, if his handler is also here, then tardiness is not an option even for a surprise meeting.
“Okay, okay,” Hawks finally relents.
Be careful, he wants to say to Tokoyami, but that’s far too sappy. Instead he points at him and says, “Stay out of trouble.”
Tokoyami nods, taking the words very seriously
His graveness pulls a smile out of Hawks.
It will be the last smile of his day.
-
“Hawks,” Madam President says in her usual severe tone.
“Madam President,” he answers with a nod. He catches the gaze of his handler standing off to the left and nods to her as well. She looks utterly plain. Besides her distinctive HPSC suit, Hawks wouldn’t be able to pick her out of a crowd. “I can’t imagine anything good brings you by.”
Levity fails him. It always does in the presence of HPSC personnel.
“There was a scheduling error,” Madam President sighs. “Like with many other things I’m supposed to keep track of, it slipped through the cracks. We’re here for a routine mission check-in. Have you made any progress on your infiltration?”
Cutting right to the chase, huh?
Hawks plops down in a chair. The position pins his wings, but he pretends to be unbothered.
“Not much,” he admits.
Dabi is a perplexing character.
As eager as the League seems for new members, the man is certainly cautious. Hawks can’t blame him. It’s suspicious for a top ten hero to show interest, but it’s not like there aren’t dirty heroes scattered across Japan. Plus, given the rash actions taken by the League in the past, he thought they’d jump on a hero of Hawks’ status. At least, that’s what the president was hoping for.
Instead, Dabi has simply strung Hawks along. Because he is Hawks’ only connection to the League, it’s been a slow build of trust, one that still has fickle foundations.
“What is slowing your progress?” Madam President asks.
“Dabi is my ticket in. He’s the recruiter and he’s thorough. I’ve reported all the things he’s asked me to do. Some are not achievable.”
Like staging another kidnapping of UA students, killing a fellow pro hero, or stepping into the limelight announcing himself a villain. Hawks may serve the Commission, but he has his own moral compass. There are lines he doesn’t want to cross.
Madam President says, “We need progress.” Hawks’ handler gives a solemn nod of agreement.
“I know,” Hawks says.
“Since things aren’t moving at our desired speed, we’ve created more structure for your mission,” she says and then she starts delving into the importance of his mission.
Hawks isn’t interested in hearing this lecture again. He knows why the League poses a threat and he knows he’s the right person to infiltrate their group. It’s not his fault that Dabi is a prick.
The president’s monologue drones on for a few minutes before it’s interrupted by a shrill buzz that fills the room. An alarm chimes from Hawks’ belt and a red light flashes. All heroes have an emergency alert. It means his agency is trying to enlist his help for a crisis.
He pushes his chair back and stands up.
“We’ll have to reschedule–” he starts to say.
“Hawks.” Madam President has the audacity to let her lip curl, to let annoyance flicker in her otherwise empty eyes.
“There’s an emergency,” Hawks grits through his teeth.
He’s never cared for bureaucracy. Never. Even with the Commission breathing down his neck, having the very hands that molded him, he’s never cared for the apathy ingrained in bureaucratic institutions. There’s a reason he let loose at the last billboard chart event.
“There are other heroes who can take care of it.”
She might as well be yanking on a collar chained around his neck. Hawks has no choice but to sit back down and silence the alert.
His heart pounds in his chest. His feathers itch for flight. He can’t keep his wings still which earns him a steely glare from his handler.
“As I was saying,” Madam President continues, as if the beacon isn’t still flashing red. As if there aren’t lives in peril. “We’ve constructed a timeline. Ideally, within the next week you’re able to meet the leader.”
Fat fucking chance, Hawks thinks. He’s barely made any leeway with Dabi. The man takes a mile and gives an inch. But Hawks can’t dwell on these thoughts. His eyes catch on the emergency signal. Somewhere people are in danger and Hawks is just sitting here doing nothing.
“We only know Shigaraki Tomura’s name. It’s vital that you obtain intel on him. The other members of the League pose threats. We’re still considering Dabi and Twice in the high threat level category, but we need to know more.”
Hawks’ mind is drifting again. He gets it. The League of Villains are a major risk to society. Lives are at stake. This mission is important. He needs to progress faster. Blah, blah, blah. That emergency beacon keeps blinking.
“We’ve decided to alter your mission guidelines. Given the time sensitive nature of the mission, you have permission to secure your spot in the League by any means necessary.”
Wait.
Madam President suddenly has his full attention.
By any means necessary?
The conference room door abruptly flies open. All heads turn to see Amari. She stands there, looking frantic. Pink glasses askew, strands of blonde hair slipping from her updo.
While the president’s stoic face cracks with lines of irritation, Hawks goes on high alert.
Amari is a diligent worker. She keeps track of all his meetings, sanctioned appearances, interviews, and team-ups. She crafts the work schedule for the entire agency. She takes Excel and makes it an artform. She’s also shy, quiet, and antisocial. She’s a timid rule-follower.
She does not bust down conference room doors and intervene in meetings she knows she has no clearance to be at.
“Hawks-san!” she gasps. “Forgive the intrusion!” The bow she gives is feverish. She lifts her head back up, eyes wide under her glasses. “It’s the team, they’re in trouble.”
Hawks is already on his feet.
He doesn’t bother excusing himself or bidding goodbye to the president and his handler. His heart thunders as he takes Amari by the shoulder and guides her out the door and down the hall.
“What’s going on?” he says calmly.
“Here,” Amari manages to say. She fumbles with her phone, nearly dropping it as she tries to hand it over. Hawks nabs it from her with two feathers.
It’s a newsfeed. Live. The banner at the bottom of the screen displays an urgent headline: Villain Attack in Fukuoka - Citizens Asked to Avoid the Area, Heroes on Scene. A news anchor is spewing out live updates from a box in the bottom corner, but Hawks isn’t focused on her. He’s looking at the shaky footage of the fight.
He sees a flash of feathers and the shadowy quirk of his mentee. Tokoyami flattens against the side of a building as something sharp slices through the air beside him. The quirk that Tokoyami narrowly avoids strikes something else. The camera shakes and rubble starts to fall from somewhere. Just as Tokoyami and Dark Shadow look up at the incoming debris, the camera swivels away. Hawks bites back a curse, desperately hoping to see his intern again. Coming into focus instead is Tanager. He doesn’t stay in the camera frame for long. A villain’s quirk knocks him out of view.
Hawks’ team is losing the fight.
“The location has already been sent to your visor,” Amari says frantically. “I didn’t want to disturb your meeting, but I saw them and it doesn’t - it doesn’t look good–”
“I’m on it,” Hawks says.
He doesn’t let the swell of emotions in his chest seep into his voice. He stays cool under the pressure. He feigns the confidence that always charms the press.
Hawks departs from the first open window he can find. The wind bites at his skin, but eases the itch of his feathers. His heart still drums in his ears and his mind is consumed by Tokoyami barely dodging that attack and the emergency beacon that he was forced to ignore.
-
Anger weighs Hawks down until his feet are back on the ground. He curses the Commission for waylaying him with an unnecessary meeting, he curses Tokoyami, that stubborn fucking teenager, for convincing him to let him go off with the sidekicks, and Hawks curses himself because he’s too late.
He wasn’t fast enough.
The fight is over. The villains are gone. Only wreckage is left behind. The street looks like one giant fist has pummeled through it. The asphalt is torn, street lamps are crumpled, storefronts have been busted in. Glass shines between piles of rubble. Two overturned cars lay like toppled toys in the middle of the ruined road. A stout office building on the corner looks like it’s been slashed in half. The top floors pour into the street while the bottom of the building stands firm in the carnage.
Emergency services are just arriving. Sirens blare and EMTs are scrambling out of ambulances. A police chief is nearby barking orders, but Hawks is deaf to it all.
His eyes scan the ruins for his team.
Groove, Tanager, Tsukuyomi.
He can still see that image of Tokoyami nearly taking a fatal hit.
Hawks doesn’t recognize the feeling of panic as it crawls up his throat. He struggles to breathe. His wings flare, sending feathers out like scouts. They sort through rubble and slide into the cracks that Search and Rescue won’t be able to reach.
Hawks moves to ask the police chief what happened, but then he hears someone call out, “We found one!”
His head swivels in their direction.
Adrenaline rushes through him. He hopes to see Tokoyami’s feathered head or a flash of Groove’s quirk. Instead, he sees a woman being pulled out from underneath one of the cars. She’s a civilian, battered and bruised, but breathing.
Hawks’ feathers flutter over to assist.
He’s thankful someone is being rescued, but his heart still sinks.
“Here!” another voice announces.
Hawks’ gaze travels to the fallen building.
At the edge of the rubble an underground hero and two officers dig someone out. Hawks recognizes the bright yellow hair.
Tanager.
Dread freezes out Hawks’ panic. It slows everything down. It takes him a moment to move.
He flies over, the world around him only a muddled blur as he reaches his sidekick.
“Hawks!” an officer says, sounding relieved. He’s trying to lift a slab of concrete pinning down Tanager’s leg. Hawks releases more feathers, adds the strength of his hands, and the concrete is easily discarded.
Tanager startles the group around him with a groan, Hawks included. He was certain the man had been unconscious, but now Tanager is blinking bleary eyes open.
“Get a medic,” Hawks says to the second officer. He doesn’t take his eyes off his sidekick. “Tanager, are you with me?” he asks.
There’s blood spreading from Tanager’s hairline to below his cheekbone. The red matches the arms of his costume. His leg is broken. The bone bulges out where it shouldn’t be. His suit and skin are shredded in multiple places. Dirt and crumbles of brick and stone coat everything. Hawks has never seen his sidekick look so beaten.
Tanager manages to settle his dazed expression on Hawks.
“They’re in there,” he slurs.
“Who?” Hawks asks.
He knows exactly who Tanager is talking about, but the despair in the man’s voice makes him desperate to feign ignorance.
Tanager heaves in a breath that crackles.
“They’re in there,” he says again. He tries to lift a hand. His fingers shake. The gesture vaguely points at the demolished office building.
Hawks lifts his head and peers into the mess before him. The toppled building is a collapsed heap of brick, glass, and rebar. Hawks refuses to envision Groove and Tokoyami lying in there, but Tanager mumbles out the same slurred words again. “They’re in there.” It’s all he can say.
A medic arrives and Hawks lets her take over. He leaves Tanager behind and starts searching in the caverns created by caved-in floors and crumbling roofs.
He sends feathers in first. They scout out his path and check the integrity of what’s ahead of him. He steps carefully, but can’t convince himself to slow his pace.
He needs to find Tokoyami.
It’s the only thought left in his mind.
He doesn’t know how long he searches. He passively hears people's voices call to him from the perimeter of the building. He knows more heroes have arrived on scene. But he doesn’t stop. The only thing that snaps him out of his robotic movements is the feeling of a heartbeat detected by a feather. More feathers flock to it and Hawks follows.
He hopes once again for the face of Tokoyami Fumikage.
Instead he finds Groove.
She’s sprawled on the dusty ground, framed by a piece of ceiling propped up by a severed column. It looks like a narrow escape from death, total happenstance that she wasn’t crushed. She’s hurt. Hawks sees the blood seeping from her torso. Her breaths are erratic.
Hawks crouches down and wedges himself under the fallen ceiling. The crunch of rubble under his boots grabs Groove’s attention.
Her quirk flares, illuminating the shadowed space.
“H-Hawks,” she chokes out when he leans over her.
“I’m here,” he tells her. “You’re hurt. I need to apply pressure to the wound. It won’t feel great.”
“No shit,” she bites out. The words are followed by a desperate gasp for air.
Hawks pulls at the tears in her costume until he finds the source of the bleeding. He wastes no time pressing his hands to the wound. Groove cries in pain, but she stays conscious.
Hawks keeps his tone even and calm when he asks, “Where’s Tsukuyomi?”
Tears leak from the corners of Groove’s eyes. Her face, usually stony and serious, cracks apart.
“He’s gone!” she cries and for one horrible moment, Hawks thinks Tokoyami is dead. His heart twists in anguish as Groove’s words rattle through his mind. He’s gone. Tokoyami is gone.
But then Groove gasps again and says, “They took him! They took him!”
The anguish turns into despair.
Hawks forces himself to breathe. The air burns in his lungs. He blinks a few times, his mind prickling until it's numb to keep away a rush of thoughts.
Someone took Tokoyami.
Tokoyami is gone.
“Just hold on,” Hawks says to Groove, suppressing his panic.
He focuses on her wound. It tethers him to reality. His lifetime of hero training kicks in. Stop the bleeding. Keep her conscious. Get her to the medics.
As he staunches the bleeding with his palms, those thoughts keep cutting through. Tokoyami is gone. He’s gone. Someone took him. Hawks drives his palm into Groove’s side. She yelps, but he maintains pressure. You should have been there, he thinks. You should have been with him. You should have protected him. You failed him. His vision goes white, but muscle memory keeps him functioning.
“You’re going to be alright,” he says automatically. “You’re okay.”
Groove chokes on a sob as Hawks pushes harder on the wound. Blood seeps between his fingers. The black fabric of his gloves hide the stains.
You should have been faster.
You shouldn’t have been gone.
You failed, you failed, you failed.
-
He stays put next to the puddle of Groove’s blood even after medics take her away. He’s left staring at what’s around him. Everything is rubble and dust under an apex created by two walls of the ruined building.
On autopilot, Hawks searches.
Part of him is in denial. Tokoyami can’t be gone. He has to be here somewhere.
“Tsukuyomi!” he calls out.
It’s the only way he can keep himself from breaking down.
His hands tremble but he takes steady steps over chunks of rock and remnants of office furniture.
“Tokoyami,” he says, his manic hope already draining away.
Instinct tells him the kid isn’t here. Groove said so and his feathers can’t pick up any signs of life. Not the tick of a beating heart. Not the heat of a warm body.
Hawks keeps searching. His bloodied hands pry away rubble. His feathers wedge into every available nook and cranny. His ragged wings shield him from loose debris. There has to be something here within the ruins that will give him a lead. There has to be some sign of where Tokoyami once was. The Commission has made Hawks into a thorough hero. He knows how to search for evidence where no one thinks to look. He knows how to stay calm even when a sidekick is felled. He knows how to push down his emotions until they fall to depths he can’t reach.
His mind struggles to process the sudden change. Just two hours ago, he was having lunch with Tokoyami. Now his top two sidekicks are injured, one is in critical condition, and Hawks’ intern, his mentee, a teenager, is gone. Tokoyami Fumikage is missing.
There’s a single moment when all of Hawks’ panic breaches the surface. His eyes burn, he wants to scream. But then he sees it.
It isn’t too far away from where Groove had been that he finds the only sign of Tokoyami. There’s a scrap of the kid’s cloak, caught and torn between two jagged bricks. Next to it is a circle scorched on the ground, a sign of someone’s quirk.
Hawks drops into a crouch before the evidence.
When the urge to shout and panic returns, he closes his eyes and runs through what he knows like it’s a mission report.
There was a villain attack.
Hawks wasn’t there.
Tanager is injured.
Groove is injured.
And Tokoyami Fumikage is missing.