The Reason| Hawks x OC

Chapter 15

It had been almost two weeks since I went under deep cover and "severed ties".

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get into contact with anyone since then. Dabi made it nearly impossible. He was constantly watching me like a hawk, and I couldn't even go to the bathroom or shower without him being practically up my ass. Toga was able to indirectly help by saying she wanted to have girl time with me.

It was just so uncomfortable being in this dark, cold labyrinth of a building. It was an old abandoned hotel. It looked absolutely horrible on the outside. I'm surprised it was never demolished.

The building was falling apart in several places, so I couldn't venture to every area. The elevator didn't work, and the stairs only went up a couple of floors before you were exposed to the elements and they abruptly stopped. There were still parts of the hotel that were somewhat inhabitable. I didn't know if the electricity was left on, or if members of the league fixed it to work in several rooms. It wasn't bright—it still left the place very dim, even with the bulbs flickering overhead. It was rather creepy. The water was the same, although lukewarm temperatures were the best the pipes ever released. Not once had I found a tap that had truly hot water. Occasionally, you had to beat on the pipes to clear up the murky water. I missed my apartment. At least it had hot water, wasn't cold, and certainly was not covered in cobwebs and the occasional cockroaches that plagued this condemned shithole.

Any food they found was stolen, for the most part. That was hard to get used to—constantly being hungry or thirsty. Dabi would disappear for days at a time for god knows what. Sometimes he'd come back drunk, high, or smelling like cheap perfume. I had my thoughts about that and quite honestly, I couldn't have cared less. I tried multiple times to sneak out when this happened, but Toga would take over and start doing the same thing Dabi did. I'm sure he put her up to it, in fact. Spinner would pop in on occasion to drop off random supplies, medicines, food, and other things.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I even looked forward to it.

I stayed in the room across from Toga. Dabi was in one of the rooms at the dead end of the hall. We all had rooms on the first floor. The further up you went, the worse the areas were. Some spots didn't even have a roof.

The lobby and kitchen areas where in the best condition. The lobby windows were all boarded up and sealed, so no one could see in or out. We had a television set up with a small speaker. Stolen, no doubt. It had the occasional lines across it, and the picture would flicker in and out, but it worked. The kitchen still had all the silverware and incredibly old, no longer viable cleaners laying around. The stove and oven weren't usable—it looked like it had caught fire at some point, the oven door hanging sadly from its hinges, half on the floor. No one wanted to steal another one and drag it here. The fridge was noisy, but it worked.

In between the lobby and kitchen was a small bar. All the alcohol and spirits were still there. Dabi and Spinner were the only ones that actually used it.

The smell of this place was somewhere between musty, moldy, and just overall unpleasant. When I first came here, I though the hangout area was the speakeasy under the club, but I was wrong. This place was on the outskirts of town near the pier. It was a good ways away from the city. So, I already knew, even if I was able to escape the hotel without anyone noticing, I would have quite a bit of walking or running to do just to get to a phone.

The backpack I brought only held a few extra sets of clothes, brushes and feminine items just in case I needed them. Had I known it'd be this difficult to get certain items, I would've packed more. At least I now knew how some of the other half lived. It was kinda sad, really. I needed to escape here and inform the higher-ups about the things I've found out so far, even if it wasn't a lot.

I need to get out of here.

I decided I'd risk getting yelled at, beaten, or whatever else could possibly be in store for me and changed into the all-black schoolgirl outfit I'd come to think of it as. I put my hair in a high ponytail and grabbed what little change I had and put it in my pocket. I even put my little black mask on as I walked out of my room and down the hall. I heard the television going as I peeked around the corner to see Toga watching the news. Dabi had disappeared again. This was the second day in a row that he'd been gone. I was hoping I could sneak past Toga to the back door, but she'd notice me in a heartbeat.