Heroes of Today

Part 15~Be the Bug

Uzu didn't wait as he strolled down the road. Hawks was waiting for him and he was not going to make the hero wait much longer. Uzu wasn't sure why Hawks had agreed to take him on, but he wasn't going to complain. Hawks was the number 3 hero after all.

Spinning around the corner, Uzu gasped. Hawks' agency wasn't anything special but it was still the first agency Uzu had ever seen. He might try to deny it but Uzu is still the hero fanboy he was as a kid.

"Hello there Morph!" Hawks waved with a carefree expression on his face. His wings hung behind him, fluttering slightly in the wind.

Uzu gulped, standing to attention. “Hello, Hawks. Thank you for having me." Uzu bowed politely, he might not be the best-behaved student in the world, but this was the number 3 hero, he got special treatment.

"No need. Come on, we've got places to be!" Hawks opened his wings, spreading them out behind him before launching himself into the sky.

Uzu stared in shock. Hawks flew with so much ease. Uzu could feel his stomach spit and twist green with jealousy but he tried to force it down. This was not the time.

"Hey, Uzu, what are you waiting for?! Spread your wings and fly already!"

Uzu shuffled, suddenly feeling nervous. He twisted his foot and ran his palms over his outfit. He couldn't fly! He had tried, but he always crashed and burnt!

"Uzu! I'm not going to wait forever!"

Uzu let out a shaky breath, bringing out his wings. They spread behind him, taking in the feeling of the wind on them. This was the reason Hawks' agency was here and not anywhere else. The large gusts would help him fly with minimal effort. Uzu bent back his wing, flapping as hard as he could. For a second he was flying. That second didn't last long.

Almost instantly, Uzu fell to the ground. "Owww..." Uzu glared up when he heard Hawks laughing.

“You barely got a few meters off the ground! I probably could have jumped higher than that! Come on, I told you to fly!”

Uzu grumbled, pushing himself off the ground. He tried again. And again. And again. Scratches covered Uzu’s skin, gravel and sticks attacking him every time he tried to fly.

“That’s it! I give up! Everything hurts and I’m so tired! Aren’t we meant to be patrolling or something normal!” Uzu screamed, rolling onto his back and covering his face with the crook of his elbow.

Hawks sighed, landing in front of Uzu. He married his eyes, studying the boy before hitting him on the top of his head.

“Hey! What was that for?!”

“I watched you at the Sports Festival, you think too much when you fly. Flying is something coded in our DNA, the more you think, the worse you’ll fly.”

Uzu wasn’t sure what Hawks meant. He didn’t understand this! And now his head hurt!

“You’re thinking too much like a bird. Your wing structure is close to mine but you lack the feathers needed to fly.”

“Couldn’t you have told me that an hour ago!”

“No, you needed to fail first. Plus, it was funny to watch.” Hawks smirked as Uzu glared at him. “Just because you lack feathers doesn’t mean you can’t fly. It just means you’ll need to fly like a bat… or a bug. Either will work.”

“A bat or a bug, huh?” Uzu rubbed his chin, deep in thought. Hawks smiled as Uzu’s wings changed. They grew, doubling in size and number. The tissue of the wing became spongier, letting Uzu catch the air.

“Ready to try again?” Hawks held out a hand, pulling Uzu back up.

He stumbled a little, having to get used to the extra weight on his back. Hawks opened his wings once more, holding Uzu’s arms as he flapped.

Uzu tried to copy the movements but he was still struggling. Hawks frowned before a smirk came to his face. He tightened his grip on Uzu’s wrist and shot into the sky. Uzu screamed, making Hawks chuckle. “You’re still thinking too much! You need to stop letting your mind control you and let your instincts take over!”

“If my instincts take over I’ll crash!”

“You won’t, you’ll soar!” HAwks halted, fluttering just above the agency over thirty stories in the air.

“Don’t you dare!” Uzu glared at Hawks who was enjoying himself a little too much.

“Let your instincts take over!” HAwks let go, watching Uzu plummet to his death. Uzu flapped his wings wildly, unable to do anything. He glanced up, seeing Hawks staying where he was. “Stop thinking like a human! Become the bug and fly!”

Uzu let out a fear-filled breath, doing his best to calm his mind. He crossed his arms over his chest and folded in his wings. He listened to the wind that howled around him, warning him of how close the ground was becoming.

Barely a few meters from the rocky death that awaited him, Uzu opened his wings, spreading them far past his arms. The wind howled as it attacked the extra appendages, Uzu narrowed his eyes. “Time to break gravity.”

Flap.

Uzu leaned away, spinning from certain death. The gravel was only a meter away from him, looking nothing more than a blur as Uzu soared above it and through the sky. It was almost like he had been flying for years. The air in his lungs and the wind in his hair, it was natural. It was right.

“See! You’re a natural at this!” Hawks beamed, letting out a small sigh of relief. “I’m so glad that worked. I was facing murder charges for a second.”

“What did you say?!”

“Nothing!” Hawks smirked, charging forward. He knew that expression. One of utter delight and freedom. Uzu was free.

Uzu didn’t wait, streaming through the air. He was still a little inexperienced and wobbly but who wasn’t? Uzu had never felt this free before. The wind blew across his skin, giving him a kind of comforting cold feeling.

“It’s nice up here, isn’t it?”

Uzu glanced over his shoulder at his teacher, slowing down his pace. “It’s cleaner… quieter… feer…”

“You never get used to it. Observing the world from above, it always has something new to offer.” Hawks tilted up his wings, flying over the cloud barrier. He shook off the water pellets as he watched Uzu play with the fluffy clouds. “Be careful, don’t want you to freeze to death after barely escaping your last visit at his door,” Hawks warned with a light chuckle that told Uzu he had done that before.

“I wish I didn’t need my Quirk to fly.”

“Or that you could use your Quirk whenever you chose? I understand, I felt the same.” Hawks tipped down his wings, watching the sunset over the horizon.

“Felt? You don’t anymore?”

“Well, yeah. Firstly, I can use my Quirk whenever I choose and secondly, I know why it is important. When you too are a hero, you’ll understand.”

“Oh great, now you sound like Akiko.”

“Is that a bad thing?”

“Depends if you’ll wake me up at dawn.”

Hawks chuckled, landing gracefully. “The early bird gets the worm, Morph.”

“Yeah, but the second mouse gets the cheese. Fuck! Now I sound like Akiko!”