Chapter 22

POV Hawks

Heroes receive the message. They begin to plan to rally the heroes against GL all at once. An All Our War

GL plans accordingly. Prepare for War.

The halls were blaring red as the alarm sounded across the entire underground facility. I willed my wings to carry me faster as I flew down the long halls at sonic speed dodging through the agents around every corner.

I felt the bullets, live ammunition, graze my side and through my wings but I ignored them as I sped towards the exit. They needed to know…they had to know. Hopefully they got the hint and Nezu would be able to piece it together but I needed to be there…It needed to be passed on before it was too late.

It was rather surprising when the GrandLine accepted me into their ranks rather easily, seeing that I was a well-known hero and all. Sure, the lower employees would not know anything but the higher ups knew well that I was here for more than just an intern experience.

And yet…and yet they accepted me. After perhaps the easiest ability-test and observation session they placed me into their new Secret team with little to no questions asked…at all.

PUNK HAZARD

The GrandLine’s Rapid Response Elite Unit composed of the best of the best…or perhaps in another way the worst of the worst. Seeing the member profiles it was undeniable that each of the members were ‘proven’ in terms of strength or a unique ability that would be useful…but in terms of ‘what’ they did…

Criminals, villains.

Wanted criminals were on the list such as Dabi, Twice, Muscular, and even Moonfish. Those who he would usually not think twice about sending them directly into the depths of Tartartus…but he waited. He waited as this was his chance to see what was hiding in the core of GrandLine.

Through the years he learned more than he bargained or planned to…and in more ways than one it was eye-opening. He didn’t want to admit but the years he spent at the GrandLine were the best years of his existence.

Within their group, it was a perfect blend of ‘Militaristic Order’ and ‘friendship’ that bordered on true camaraderie. Their group’s leader Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri did a fantastic job at keeping everything in line and training them down to the bones…and the results were amazing.

Even without a new quirk, his speed, power, and abilities developed to new levels he thought previously impossible.

If only I could bring this method to the Heroes…

Perhaps it was the harsh training or the dangerous situations the GL put them in but he found himself bonding with these criminals, these villains. He learnt of their stories, their perspective, their lives…and to finally see the world from their perspective…changed him…scared him.

It was so similar to his own…and once he realized this it was as if a veil had been lifted. If…if the man who had saved him wasn’t Endeavor…if Heroes didn’t come for him like they didn’t come for them…would he have been a hero? Would he have idolized them like most blind sheep or would he have fought against the system that ignored him?

He was left questioning…and even began questioning his very own mission to infiltrate and spy on the GrandLine until…until he saw what he could not unsee.

The Creation of Pandora’s Apple.

He saw with his own eyes as how bodies of living and dead villains alike were processed with unspeakable horrors as they were seedified into objects. To turn human life into a product for commercial products.

What did he expect? Artificial Quirks made from nothing?

At least, certainly not this. DNA manipulation and bio-tampering but not this…not this horror; and yet, even this was not enough to push him over the edge. What pushed him over the edge was not the knowledge of evil that existed, but rather the fear of what was to come.

In the deepest part of Japan’s GL HQ he saw it…a fruit which held a quirk which must never be allowed to see the light of day again.

He recognized it was different from the other fruits from the level of security around it alone. It took him months to figure out how to get past the guards, the passwords, and information to finally get him through that door to see what it was.

What awaited him was a simple apple tree with a single black apple hanging low on its branch.

As the sirens began to blare, he escaped promptly…but he never got the chance to enter the place once again…but after weeks of digging through classified files and reports, he managed to find what that black apple was.

CLASSIFIED

Project ‘Darkness Reborn’

Quirk: All For One

Origin: Head of All For One

Time Estimated: 6 Years

As he read more and more about the details of how this project was nurtured in secret, how it would grow and what powers it would give to the consumer…it truly frightened him.

It would be another All For One, but this time in the hands of the other owner of GrandLine; Ace. He had heard enough about the man to know he was shady to say the least; untrustworthy. He had heard enough of All For One to know the threat the holder of this quirk possessed…especially in the hands of someone capable.

No. Not again…not in a world where we already have Anarchy

He had to let the Heroes know what was coming. What was happening here…everything. Everything from the creation of the Apples, the corruption, the part they played in orchestrating civil wars all across the world in their name of ‘For the Greater Good’, the AFO quirk almost ready for harvest…and even…and even his group he could almost call family.

… …

POV Hawks

I could feel the burns on my back as I clutched the one fruit that held the hope of this world…if I could just get this to All Might, to Mirio, then the Heroes had a chance. A chance at fighting that disaster.

With my wings burnt away, my legs almost useless, I crawled as I saw the foots of my friends. Or should I use past tense now as I had betrayed them. Guilt shot through me as I knew what that meant…especially to my good drinking buddy Twice. I truly didn’t want to break his heart, not again, but this was worth it, right? This, this was regarding the fate of the world! The fate of the Justice of this world…or Order itself!

“Why…why did you betray us!!” A heart wrenching sob filled the hall as Twice broke down…and so did I. “We…we were family weren’t we? You even saved my life on multiple occasions…we…we fought together as a family!”

I tried to shut off the sounds, to try and not understand, as his words broke me…his words making myself feel worthless, disgusted, trash…and perhaps he was right. I wouldn’t understand if any of them were in my place.

And yet…and yet this was the only life I knew. The life of an Undercover Hero whose priorities laid with the safety of the people above all else.

Are you sure it’s the safety of the people? Not the orders of your superiors?

He pushed the dangerous thought away…he couldn’t afford to think like that. No, No!

“It’s too late Twice” I couldn’t stop my voice…the words simply flowed out as I cursed myself…disgusted “I’m a Hero unlike you. My real colleagues, my family, would have received my message by now…it doesn’t matter if you kill me or not.”

Blinking away the tears and dust, I braced myself and looked up at their eyes…and they were all there.

Tomura, Kurogiri, Dabi, Toga, Twice, Compress, Magne, Muscular…even the quirky friends Mustard, Moonfish and Spinner.

All of them different, all of them from different origins, stories…and yet they all looked at me the same in that moment.

A look of disappointment…sadness, as if I had broken something inside of them, a bond which should not have been broken. Even in this broken state the worst thing that they did was…that they let me live. They let me go.

I had lost the fight, and yet they looked more defeated than I. I had escaped successfully…and let I felt like I had lost something much more important my wings.

I don’t remember exactly what had happened but as I dragged myself out of the facility…I knew I would not be going to the Heroes or GL anytime soon.

I…I…needed time to think.

POV Syrup

Me: Hawks has betrayed us.

My voice monotone. It wasn’t one of happiness or joy but rather one that had been expected.

Kyudai: It was something we have expected for a while. As you have said, a war is coming…and that is all we have been preparing for during the last number of years.

Ace: Have the Heroes been informed?

Kyudai: Our sources state that the movement of All Might, Nezu, and other high profile Heroes have been meeting more and more often. It is safe to assume that they at least suspect something.

Ace: And what now?

Me: The Final War

The war that I’ve spent so much preparing for. The war that would plunge the world into Anarchy and free everything, everyone.

Me: It’s quite obvious what they would do. They’ll be quick to gather allies using me as the target for hate…they’ll rally the world against us.

I looked at the young man sitting in the corner of the room.

Me: Tomura, they will be leading a Crusade against us. Do you know what first step of a crusade is?

Shigaraki: No?

Me: It’s rejecting the other side’s humanity as humans

A short chapter to begin turning the wheels of plot