~End Flashback~
"Wow, I didn't realize Hawks holds his friends so closely. I thought he kind of shut us all out." Jean's wet eyes stare back at Tokoyami.
"The reverse is true of him, too, though. Hawks has incredible patience, so people he doesn't trust oftentimes trust him a lot."
An owl hoots overhead, snapping Jean out of her stare into the dark abyss of sorrow she has become well acquainted with over the past month or so.
"I mean, accessing his memories without his knowledge is a little invasive. I'm sure your reasons were justified, but that behavior shakes trust. Maybe you saw things he didn't want you to know yet. Just- don't try to force anything. He'll come around."
******
The clock strikes midnight as Hawks lands outside the large HSPC HQ building. Contrasting the calmness of the night, bright lights and busy workers fill the building inside as if nobody is aware of the late hour.
Hawks sighs as he arrives at the door of the President's office. This better not take all night, he thinks as he walks into the room.
"Where have you been Hawks? You're late." The commission leader says as he and the president turn their heads to the door.
"Hey, I had an incident to wrap up. Or do ya not want me doing the job you trained me to do?" Hawks asks cynically.
Both the president and commission leader narrow their eyes at Hawks.
"Show more respect, Hawks. Or should we remind you who you work for?" Madam President scolds him.
"You guys are the ones asking to speak with me in the middle of the night. I'm a busy bird," Hawks responds, looking back at the clearly unamused president and commission leader.
"There have been a disturbing number of assaults on heroes over the past week. Each victim was knocked unconscious, and worse, they all lost their quirks. Of course we know that Shigaraki has acquired a quirk-erasing drug designed by a Yakuza group." The commission leader says, pulling up a map of Japan with the geolocations of heroes that have been affected.
"Have we learned whether their attempts to mass produce the drug have been successful?" The president asks Hawks.
"No, we haven't." Hawks states flatly.
"We need that intel. Your secret investigation-"
"Has anyone considered the possibility that their quirks were stolen?" Hawks interrupts the commission leader.
"Stolen?"
"The people targeted were all heroes, right? So whatever their individual quirks were, I assume they were pretty useful ones. So, what if we're looking for somebody who's like All For One? A person who has ability to steal other people's powers."
"That would be unfortunate," the president says.
Hawks heads towards the door, and, looking behind his shoulder, responds, "well, either way we know that Shigaraki is involved. I'll look into both possibilities."
"We need to regain control. He's slipping away from us." the president says to the commissioner once Hawks leaves the room.
***
With firefighters busy at work below, smoke still lingers in the air as Hawks flies into Kyushu.
"Man this guy went to town here." Hawks says, spotting an ambulance he dives down landing.
"What happened here?" He ask walking up to an officer as the paramedics roll away an unconscious man and the Firefighter putting out a burning car.
"That man over there was attacked, but the culprits have fled. We aren't sure if it's connected to the fire breaks cross the city." The officer says
"Hm, have any news on the man who was attacked? A name or quirk?"
"Only brief details before he passed out. Mr. Shimano. He's came from a small island. As for his quirk it was basic."
"Was?"
"Same MO, Mr. Hawks. The victim was injured but not killed and appears to have lost his quirk." The officer says.
Hawks side glances at the ambulance driving he victim to the hospital. "Thank you, officer" Hawks responds, heading towards the crime location.
The officer nods and makes his way back over to his partner as they secured the area more.
So this person lost their quirk, too. But unlike the others, he wasn't a hero. Question is — why?
*****
"Right, please let know when he wakes up. I wish to have a word with him." Hawks flies over his cityscape his phone to his ear, leaving the scene behind him as he goes.
"Of course. You'll be first we call." The nurse promises him. Hawks hangs up looking at the screensaver of him and Jean. As he has done dozens of times before, Hawks opens his text messages and starts typing one to her.
Hawks: Hey chickadee, how things going over there?
He shakes his head, deleting this message like he has the others. With that his phone begins ringing with another call from the HPSC. After getting his orders, Hawks slides his phone into his pocket and jets into the sky.
****
Hawks stretches his wings and shakes them out a little, careful not to drop the coffee in his hand as he perched on top of the lamppost. It feels like the first deep breath he has taken for a few days. These mini-breaks are what keeps him able to pull the long hours.
"Go home and get some rest. You can't work all day and night." A voice calls to him from the ground.
Hawks looks down, seeing Aizawa walking towards him. Hawks floats down from the lamp post to meet his colleague. "Ey, Eraseer."
"Tokoyami and the others are doing fine. You need stop hovering around worrying about him." Aizawa says
"Hey, I'm worried about my fledgling, okay? We're birds of a feather."
Aizawa rolls his eyes at Hawks. "He's fine, they are quite safe at Nabu island with the X-Men. They should be back—"
"The X-Men are at Nabu island?" Hawks exclaims, likely showing more enthusiasm than intended.
"Yes, Kitty, Kurt, Rouge and Jean arrived couple days ago."
Hawks eyes widen hearing this. Chickadee is here. "What-" he was cut off as his phone rings. "Hold on a sec Eraser— hello?" He answers.
"Hawks sir, he's awake and ready to be questioned."
YOU ARE READING
Flying Free: My Hero Evolution Wings of Change (X-Men/My hero crossover)
Ficción GeneralWhile out on patrol Hawks comes across group of strangers to himself. As he takes time to talk with them, little did they all know that their lives were now forever changed from that one fateful encounter.
