Winds of Destiny: Rising ~ {Hawks x OC}

Chapter Four: Taking Chances

In the early evening after the ranking's presentation event, Misaki remained seated behind her desk at the Hero Public Safety Commission, finishing up a follow up report on the community's reaction to the new top ten hero's remarks from the event. The outlook wasn't exactly grim, but it wasn't all positive either. Opinions appeared to be pretty mixed, with the majority of the public displaying a general feeling of cautious skepticism about their new leading hero. Endeavor hadn't really done himself any favors over the years as far as public perception was concerned. He certainly had his work cut out for him to convince the people to rally behind his leadership.

The President suddenly exited the office behind her with her coat on and her briefcase in hand in preparation to leave for the day. She looked down at her watch upon noticing her secretary still typing away at her computer and asked, "Misaki, what are you still doing here?"

She finished the last sentence of her report and closed down her workstation, looking up as she responded, "I was just getting ready to leave."

The President's phone suddenly began ringing from inside her bag, and she reached into the front pocket to fish it out as Misaki pulled on her coat. While she listened to what the person on the other end was saying, her normally cool expression began to fall into one of shocked concern.

She turned her worried gaze to Misaki and gravely told her, "Turn on the news."

Noticing the President's tense demeanor, Misaki quickly hurried into the President's office and picked up the remove from her desktop. She clicked the button to turn on the large, wall mounted television and pressed the number for the main news channel. They both stood in the middle of the room, staring with wide eyes at the carnage displayed on the screen.

Misaki gasped, covering her mouth as she asked in a shocked whisper, "Is that the Umai building?"

"They must have jumped the gun," the President muttered darkly under her breath before commanding aloud, "Contact the branch office in Kyushu and begin coordinating a wide scale cleanup effort."

Misaki couldn't move, her gaze was completely transfixed on the television screen. She was just barely able to make out the sight of several red feathers carrying pieces of debris away from the obliterated restaurant building.

"Misaki." She flinched and turned her wide-eyed gaze over to the President. "Now, please."

"R-right!" She stuttered before immediately turning and hurrying back to her desk to make the call.

As she furiously began taking down notes from the rushed conversation with the Kyushu branch office secretary, her attention caught suddenly on the pen in her hand. It was the one Hawks had given her for Christmas almost a year ago. She swallowed heavily and shook her head, stubbornly turning her attention back to her task. Letting herself get distracted by her feelings wasn't going to help anyone right now, least of all the many victims of the attack on the Umai building. At least Hawks had been nearby to help ferry people to safety while Endeavor battled the villains. She still wasn't clear on who or what exactly had attacked the restaurant skyscraper, but given the President's reaction when she'd seen the news, Misaki assumed it had something to do with the secret assignment she'd given Hawks to spy on the League of Villains.

Hanging up the phone a minute later, Misaki hastily strode back into the President's office to fill her in while she finished writing a few notes, "We have three affiliated recovery companies lined up, along with several privately owned construction companies who've expressed interest in providing their services for rebuilding efforts. The Kyushu office is coordinating with the local police force to assist with crowd containment and—"