Chapter 121: Chapter 121: Hawks
Flying through the air swiftly, Hawks face formed a frown.
'For the time being, I was able to deliver my coded message, but...Endeavor looks like a pretty dense guy...I wonder if that was a bit too subtle for him.'
He couldn't help but worry that the number one hero's denseness would be the cause of all the troubles.
'Sigh, since the liberation army has many heroes among them, I can't reveal any information through the official channels. Using my face to hide a message...even for me, that's in pretty bad taste.'
He continued thinking for a few more seconds before his frown eventually turned into a smile.
'It's fine. That little troublemaker is beside him, and he's way too smart to not be able to grab the details. In fact, I think he already knows everything there is to know about the army.'
Hawks wondered why he was even chosen for this job when Shido could be the much better choice after thinking about his information-gathering capabilities.
'Guess the government still refuses to trust the foreign entity.'
Hawks felt that the government was stupid. He might not know everything, but just based on the few outings he had with Shido, he could tell that Shido was a terrifying person.
His entire being was shrouded with mystery, and he refused to believe for even just a second that Shido had revealed all his cards.
Like Kyushu's incident, he didn't see how Shido managed to make the falling part of the building disappear, but he did it by some unknown method.
Sighing, he took out the book and started reading as he flew in a straight line. He realized that Shido had given him the code the exact same way as he gave to Endeavor, so it wasn't too difficult to decipher the hidden message, although he felt that Shido's action might cause some suspicion to fall upon him.
The second word of each highlighted message soon formed a sentence, and his facial expression froze.
'Do not continue reading until you have reported to the league of villains.'
'How did this guy even predict what I would do?!'
He felt a shiver down his spine, and unknowingly, his back became sticky due to perspiration.
Choosing to heed Shido's words, Hawks kept the book in his jacket and focused on flying towards the secret base after ensuring that no one was tailing him.
Not that anyone in their right mind would tail the number three hero anyway.
[A/N: Izuku is an exception because he's retarded and clung onto All Might.]
He reached what seemed like a hotel in the middle of the mountains. And despite it being out of sorts when looked from afar, it didn't look too bad either.
He walked in and headed straight to the secret room where all the nine leaders were present, save for two.
His wings folded back, and he announced, "I have been working to spread the beliefs of the liberation army!"
"Oi, Hawks! You're really working hard, aren't cha! What a great guy!! Why don't you become one of my men!" Twice enthusiastically said as he sipped on a drink.
"The public still believes that the league is in hiding, with only a few members. They haven't even noticed the liberation army!" Hawks raised both of his hands in front of him and replied, not agreeing or denying Twice's words, "Although they're still investigating the league's involvement in the Deika City incident, our soldiers are doing a good job. And finally, it looks like the training of the next generation has begun."
Hawks didn't have any problems reporting everything he noticed since he already knew that the brains of the operation, Skeptic, would have already hacked into the government network.
"Ah right, Endeavor had three of them, didn't he."
As though on cue, Skeptic revealed the information that Hawks didn't report, further proving his point.
"It's Izuku-kun!" Hawks replied with a cheery smile.
"He hasn't grown much, as he?" Dabi asked with indifference.
"Izuku's still a student, after all."
'Thank you for underestimating them...I guess stealing their win was worth it after all.'
"Excellent work! You may leave, Hawks-kun!" Re-Destro dismissed Hawks, and Hawks walked backward before reaching the door, bowed to the six leaders before leaving.
'Sigh, I've been training to ensure that I don't even miss even the smallest signal. With my wings, I can parse different sounds just by using the vibrations in the air.'
Hawks still didn't dare to take out the book until he reached his own sleeping quarters, and until then, he could only rely on his feathers to gain more information.
"...All on schedule, right, Curious?"
"Be sure to keep the morale of our soldiers high."
"Once Tomura-kun and Himura-kun obtain their 'powers', we'll finally be ready."
"In four more months, everything will be destroyed....by Himura-kun and Tomura-kun, though one will have to be sacrificed..."
"...to another..."
*****************
Hawks walked around with his hands in his pocket, looking extremely lax.
'Just how many heroes do they have?'
Hawks' mood was not really good now. His every action was monitored, and he couldn't even walk freely around here.
But the most crucial question was, what exactly are both Shigarakis trying to accomplish with the other guy in the back?
And what did they mean by sacrificing one to another?
Hawks' feathers were only effective at eavesdropping within a limited range, resulting in him still unable to get a clear picture of the most essential parts.
Just as Hawks wanted to get to the cafeteria, he was blocked by a tall man fully covered by black attire.
"You're not allowed here."
"What? I just want to go to the cafeteria..." Hawks whined, but he thought of getting past him to check the room the man was guarding.
Just as he was wondering what to do, Re-Destro came up to him and started speaking.
"Regarding the books that you handed out to the heroes."
Neither said a word as they just stared at each other, tension rising in the air.
"Not only have you read it thoroughly, but you've also really captured the essence of Destro!" Re-Destro grabbed Hawks' hand and shook it zealously, "You really get it, don't you!"
Twice was beside him and whispered to Hawks, "To be honest, I've still got no idea what it means. Teach me later, okay?"
"Sure!" Hawks agreed readily with a grin, "It's not that difficult!"
"With someone like you on our side, the ideals of liberation will spread through the public in no time! I'm especially pleased that we can now reach the younger generations through you!"
As Re-Destro continued rambling about how their ideals would be able to spread thanks to Hawks, Hawks was not paying attention to him.
All he wanted was to get back to his own room and read the damn book that Shido 'recommended' to him.
'Sigh, I'm not even sure about this...am I even doing the right thing? Bringing interns into this mess?'
After about fifteen minutes, Re-Destro finally let him go and after another forty-five minutes, Twice eventually left him alone after he taught him how to understand the liberation ideals.
He finally went back to his designated room and laid down on the bed lazily.
He flipped open the book after checking that there was no one surveilling him.
'Keep up the good work!'
'Take note of the twins.'
'Take note of the professor.'
'We already know who are the heroes involved in this.'
'Just double-check for us, will you?'
'As for the uprising in four more months, don't worry.'
'I already told Nezu everything he needed to know to make a plan.'
'Don't worry, I never mentioned you at all.'
Seeing those sentences, Hawks face couldn't hide a smile. Fortunately, there was someone competent on the other side that could help Hawks relay messages if Endeavor failed to decipher his message.
'Well, if that is really true, then all I have to do is note the twin Shigarakis and check the heroes involved. But the twins are somewhere unknown even to me, so I guess I'll have to check the heroes' name list first.'
Just as Hawks was about to close the book, he spotted a few more highlights near the book's back pages.
'Hm?'
'And yeah, the twins' location is at XXXXXX Hospital, secret basement 3.5.'
'Be careful of safety, though.'
Hawks didn't know how to react anymore.
What did this guy not know?
*****************
"Well, since Endeavor is only interested in training Shoto, you two will probably be working with us instead!" Burnin said with her hands on her hips.
However, Katsuki didn't like what he heard.
"I only came here cause they told me I'd have front row seats to watch how the number one hero works, dammit!" Katsuki complained angrily.
While the other two were trying to calm him down, Endeavor and Shido appeared from the door.
"The interns are supposed to be our backup plans? Really? Couldn't Hawks make a better plan than to involve interns?" Shido whispered to Endeavor.
"Dammit...don't tell me that you didn't plan this for them either." Shido just smiled at his words without giving out any clues.
"Hmph...I also refused to accept this, but...for the time being..."
Endeavor growled as he stared at the three interns present.
"Shoto. Deku. Bakugo. I will be the one in charge of the three of you. So get suited up. This time, it's for real."
After everyone was suited up, Endeavor stood in front of the three interns and started to speak.
"From here on, I will train the three of you. However, before that, tell me about yourselves. What is your current 'challenge'? What do you wish to be able to do?"
To his question, Izuku took the initiative to reply, "I want to be able to control my power and be able to move at maximum performance."
"Let's see...you were the kid with that very destructive power. But from what I can tell, you were able to control that power pretty well. So what is your real problem?"
"Um...the reason I came here is...well...how should I put it...? I've developed a secondary...or rather...my quirk has begun to manifest itself in a different form..."
"Show me."
Placing his hand directly in front of him, Izuku started producing four black and wispy-looking whips.
"If I concentrate while limiting the output to its minimum, this is the extent of what I can control right now. Without limiting the power, it'll overflow and end up going wild."
"What do you mean earlier by maximum performance? And what do you want to do with that?" Endeavor asked as he carefully touched the black whip. It felt sturdy and durable despite its wispy look, and Izuku certainly didn't look like he was struggling at all to create these four whips.
"Originally, this was supposed to be a versatile, whip-like power. I want to turn this power from a 'risk' to an 'asset'. Right now, I'm thinking about whether I can incorporate elements from my new move, Air Force...Ah, I haven't told you about Air Force yet, have I? Air Force is an ... ... ... ... ... ... ..."
Izuku started rambling on about what Air Force is and how everything about it affected him in battles from hindering mobility, the current limitations he had, his future plans, and many more.
For five minutes, he talked non-stop, causing Katsuki's face to turn black from the irritating ramblings. Even Shido's smile was twitching. Shido's tolerance for annoying things was very high since he was irritating himself, but Izuku's verbiage was on a whole new level.
"Do you ever stop talking!? I didn't understand a damn word!"
Burnin, who was nearby, was surprised. In a way, she was like Mina and Denki, who preferred to do things in a more physical way than the theoretical method.
However, although Shido and Burnin didn't manage to catch any of that, Endeavor did.
"In order words...you want to micro-manage your power output for your whip in battle since you can't dual-task micromanaging that super strength and the whip at the same time."
""Damn, you actually got all of that!?"" Shido and Burnin yelled at the same time.
"As expected of the number one hero. I admit defeat." Shido wiped a fake tear off his face and smiled.
"Shut up!" Endeavor retorted to the comedic duo before tuning back to Izuku and thought about what he said.
"If we're just talking power, your quirk rivals that of All Might's. You've got quite a burdensome quirk there. It seems like you're also in the same boat as us..."
*****************
A/N: Jesus, I almost forgot to upload a chapter today because I was too focused on writing a DxD fanfic. Hahaha!
If you want to support me or/and want 14+ chapters in advance, link:
https://www.patréon.com/spirits_everywhere. We are currently 10 months ahead (aka 40 chapters going by 1 chapter per week release schedule)
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone