Predestined [Katsuki Bakugou X OC]

sixty-eight

As soon as the duo flew higher and out of sight, Hiraku had teleported them to their unreachable room. The two quickly stood across each other, looking glum and serious.

"Did you at least send an encoded message to the Commission too?" Hiraku asked, figuring out what the older hero was going to tell her in that room.

"Yeah, for the time being, they've received it safely, but," he glanced at Hiraku, "Since there are a few heroes siding with the Liberation Front, telecommunications and writing are both impossible, after all.

"It's a shame we can't bring anyone here, ain't it?"

Hiraku rolled her eyes at her companion, saying, "I'm not gonna start to experiment any time soon, Goldie, after what happened to Rocky..."

"Yeah, Azuley, I loved our Rocky too."

Rocky had been the duo's pet rock when they were still new to hero training. The rock had been their unspoken child and the reason why they had gotten so close. He vanished when the two tried to bring them to their secret room, and they have not found him to this day.

"Still," Hiraku started, "At least, you can tell me everything."

Hawks grinned a bit before saying, "Yeah, but unlike you, Endeavor isn't exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. I wonder if this is a little too obtuse for him to figure out."

Hiraku nodded with closed eyes, muttering, "Yeah, I wonder if Oto would get the hint."

"But even for me, making him figure it out from my facial expression like that..." Hawks cringed, making the girl cringe as well. "Just felt so gross, Azuley.. Sent chills down my spine~

"But hey, I had no choice."

"You're right, but I'm sure he'd get it sooner or later." Hiraku assured the winged hero. "So? What's going on with the Liberation Front?"

Hawks' goofy aura had diminished entirely as soon as the words left Hiraku's mouth, causing the girl to grimace in pain. She had an inkling on what was coming next.

"Four months."

Hiraku's eyes widened, fear and pain etched into her features.

"What?" It was the only words she could muster, because she already had a sense that Hawks' next words would leave her even more speechless.

"You already know what my feathers can do and you also know that I can only eavesdrop within a limited range, so I still haven't been able to get a clear picture of the most important parts and it wou--"

"It would be too late if you waited until you get the whole picture," Hiraku finished Hawks' words, sighing heavily after. "You're gonna send signals for the meantime, right?

"If you disappear with me all the time, I'm pretty sure they'll get suspicious of you."

Hawks nodded in agreement and said, "Yeah, I--"

"You mean we, Goldie." Hiraku looked at Hawks with a meaningful look. "I'll help you."

Hawks smiled and continued saying, "Yeah, we'd have to identify and locate every member of the Liberation Army throughout the country. In addition, we'd need to expose and arrest all of the involved heroes in one fell swoop.

"Otherwise, we'd end up letting some of them escape. The number of casualties would increase as well."

"Do you have an estimate of the members of the Liberation?" Hiraku asked.

Hawks sighed before saying, "There are about a hundred thousand, at least."

Hiraku winced in pain at the older hero's words. She knew that there was a possibility that they were outnumbered. And Hiraku also had suspicions that AFO--her biological grandfather--had big plans for Shigaraki.