40 The fall of a Hero

"You're a lot...different than I thought you'd be." Keigo said slowly.

Izuku laughed, "What? Were you expecting some old guy with too many tattoos?"

"No!" Keigo denied. "I knew you were young, but...you just look so innocent!"

"Yeah, well how do you think he's avoided detection for so long?" Shouto asked. "Nobody ever even looks twice at the quirkless kid, especially not one that looks as plain as Izuku."

Keigo shook his head, "I guess that makes sense, it's just...wow! I never would have suspected that you were the number one villain."

Izuku shrugged, "I didn't ask for that title, but I think I've earned it. You'll probably be the last number one hero you know."

"Yeah," Keigo said, "I think the position's probably been cursed for a long time, but it's just been more obvious recently."

Izuku smiled at him, "Well then, let's destroy that cursed throne and make sure it doesn't hurt anyone else." Izuku pulled up his mask and hood. "Are you ready to show everyone what it really means to be free?"

//

Mera yawned as he oversaw the new recruits to the legacy feeder program. Some of them were a bit more rebellious than Hawks had been when he was younger, but that wouldn't last long. One already seemed eager to please, so he would probably be used as the example for the others. By the time they were old enough to get their heroes licenses, they would be just as loyal to the commission as Hawks was.

The kids looked up from their training as a shrill alarm cut through the air and woke Mera up the rest of the way. They looked at him with fear and confusion, "Is there a fire somewhere? Should we evacuate?"

"Don't worry about it." Mera said. "This part of the facility is so far underground that we shouldn't be in any danger. Most likely this is just some prankster sidekick pulling the alarm, so keep training and I'll go investigate."

The kids nodded and Mera turned around to go upstairs, only to find his way blocked by a scowling Hawks. Mera unconsciously took a few steps back as he was forcefully reminded that Hawks was a raptor, like an eagle or a falcon that could easily rip him limb from limb. He took a deep breath. No, Hawks was unwaveringly loyal to the commission, just like they'd raised him to be, so Mera wasn't in any danger.

"Hawks! What a nice surprise! What are you doing down here?"

"I'm here to free those kids." Hawks growled. "I won't let them go through what I went through."

Mera froze, "They are training to be powerful heroes, Hawks. I thought you were grateful for the training we gave you. After all, you wouldn't have become the hero you are today without our help."

"You're not training them to be heroes." The kids had stopped their training to listen, this was bad. "You're training them to be weapons. Don't try to pretend that this training is for their benefit, when you and I both know that you're conditioning them to be unthinkingly loyal to the Commission so they'll do whatever you want, even things that no real hero would be willing to do."

"Hawks," Mera said softly. "Perhaps it'd be best if we talk privately. Let's go to my office, we can…"

"It's too late to talk , Mera, and besides, why would I ever believe a word you say when everything you've ever said to me was to manipulate me into becoming the perfect little tool for the Commission to use? You kept me isolated from the world and never let me have friends so that I'd never realize how fucked up my childhood was, but guess what?" Hawks grinned. "Joke's on you because I've got friends now that have opened my eyes, and I met them on a mission you assigned to me."

Mera was filled with a cold dread as he connected the dots, "But...No! Hawks, you are a hero!"

Hawks was far too fast for Mera to dodge as he used one of his feathers as a sword and buried it in Mera's gut, "Not anymore."

//

Himiko stabbed and sucked as she, Spinner, and Compress steadily chopped their way through the army of agents defending the Commission. Twice was currently with Gentle, who Mind-chan had invited because he wanted help from La Brava and also because Gentle wouldn't want to miss a high profile crime such as this. There were currently drones following each member of the league of villains that were live-streaming to Gentle's youtube account to make sure the public didn't miss any of the juicy details they were exposing today. La Brava was currently in the server room hacking into their mainframe and exposing all the Commission's secrets to the world as Shigaraki and Mind-chan stood guard.

Spinner had pointed out that it was likely some of the Commission's dirty laundry was kept off-line as a defense against hacking, which seemed complicated to Himiko, but she supposed it did make a certain kind of sense. That was why her sweet Twice was raiding the file room! The plan was to use Gentle's rubberizing quirk on the boxes and throw them out the windows to the reporters who were obviously going to congregate on the street below during the attack. Who knows what juicy secrets they would find?!

All at once, each of the opponents they were facing fell to the ground as feathers slashed through their hearts. Himiko looked up to see Hawks walking toward her with four little kids cowering behind him.

"Ah Hawks!" Compress exclaimed. "I see you're developing a taste for the dramatic!"

"What can I say old man?" Hawks laughed. "I learned from the best."

"Flattery will get you everywhere." Compress wagged his finger at Hawks as he pretended to scold him.

"You could have left some for us." Toga pouted.

"Be patient Toga." Spinner said. "False heroes will no doubt be showing up soon, lining up for us to cull them."

Spinner went over to the kids and knelt down in front of them as they shrunk back, "You kids don't have anything to fear from us. These corrupt men were going to turn you into false heroes like the ones Stain condemned, so you're lucky we were able to save you from that fate before it was too late. Go on outside and find the police, a battle is no place for children."

The kids hesitated for a long moment before Hawks rolled his eyes and just used some of his feathers to sweep them out the door by their shirt collars, "What? They're already traumatized, they don't need to be in here any longer."

Dabi and Shouto came running in through a side door, out of breath.

"Can we finish torching this place yet?" Dabi snapped. "We were setting small fires outside, just enough to raise the alarms, like Mastermind said, but then the police started shooting at us!"

"Not yet." Hawks said. "If we destroy the building before the other teams finish exposing the corruption, the Commission will just find a new building. We need to make sure there's no way they can come back from this."

Dabi chucked, "I'm pretty sure the number one hero turning villain would be enough on its own, but this is your revenge mission, so whatever."

"Weee!" Twice yelled as he landed on a bouncy patch of air at the bottom of the stairs. "What was that, Gentle? Why'd you push me?"

"I didn't push you, my dear Twice." Gentle said as he landed on the same patch. "Need I remind you that you jumped while yelling, catch me, let me die."

Himiko snorted and hugged her boyfriend, "Oh honey! Did you have fun clearing out all those files?"

"So much fun! What a chore!"

"Alright, we're just waiting for La Brava's team now, right?" Shouto asked.

"Not anymore!" Mind-chan said as he, Shigaraki, and La Brava came up from one of the basements. Both he and Shigaraki were covered with a mix of blood and dust, so they must have run into some resistance. "Did everything go okay?"

Everyone nodded and Mind-chan cracked his neck, "What do you guys think, you want to stick around to fight some heroes, or just go home and celebrate?"

"I believe it is time to take our final bows." Compress said.

There was a round of agreement and Hawks smiled, "Thank you guys for this. I know you weren't planning on attacking the Commision, so it means a lot that you were willing to do this for me."

"Whatever birdie." Dabi said. "What are friends for?"

"Alright, Gentle, would you mind making a shield in front of us? Shigaraki, call the doctor and tell him to get Johnny ready."

The group strode out the doors with Hawks at the front, bullets bouncing ineffectually off the rubberized air in front of them. Toga noticed Detective Tsukauchi in the crowd and stuck her tongue out at him right before she started choking on the nasty grey gunk and found herself back home.