Licensed Villains

Consequences

[A/N: I changed the summary for this fic. Please let me know what you think (if you want). Enjoy the chapter!]

If there's one thing Damaso hates about reporters, it's there ability to get into any building no matter how much security she applies. For instance, she's currently surrounded by at least twenty journalists looking for their big break despite the fact she ordered the HPSC building to go on a discrete lock down. She doesn't understand how these civilians manage to sneak past her defenses every time. 

There's a dozen cameras trained on her, microphones clutched in outstretched arms to pair. People chatter and shuffle; their electronics buzz and their cameras snap. She has to blink away the shock that comes with every white flash of a picture. Scratch what she said before, her least favorite thing about reporters are their ridiculous, eye damaging cameras. 

"Commissioner Damaso! Have you seen Revite's newest article?" 

"Can you comment on the surplus of positive attention given to the heroes praised in Revite's article?"

"Damaso-sama, how do you feel about the fall of Endeavor?" 

"Can you tell us how Revite gained hold of this information?" 

"Should we be worried for other top heroes?" 

Dreadfully boring this is. It's the same as always. Same people, same questions just with different names. Really, she'd of thought this country's best journalists would have a little more originality. With her hands clasped neatly in front of her, she wonders dully how hard of a punch it would take to knock the teeth out of the reporter hovering dangerously close to her. 

Inside may be bland and typical but even from within these walls she can feel the thrum of activity outdoors. She can hear people chanting his name like they know better. Fools. She knows what their signs say and she knows there's hundreds of them waiting outside her door. If the choice were between these bland pigs in their fancy suits and the citizens with war paint etched into their anger twisted scowls, she'd pick the citizens any day. At least she never knew what to expect with them. 

One reporter sticks their hand through the crowd of people, holding a microphone up to her face. They shout to her, "Commissioner, Revite mentioned in his article that you had records on Endeavor in your database. Is it true that you had his misdoings on file but never did anything about it?" 

She lifts a brow. Bold of them to phrase their question that way. 

"Those records don't exist." Not since we burned them this morning. "Revite's claims are far fetched and risky. Whatever the case is, liar or not, will be revealed in court. It is out of the commissions hands." 

She wishes it weren't. If she could, she'd step in but too many people already know the truth. The entirety of the Musutafu police has evidence that she never saw a page of and the Todoroki children are involved. She can't worm her way past them all without being caught. Endeavor's fate truly is up to the court now. The best she can do is attempt to rig the judge to give him a lighter sentence, not that it would help her case in any way. Too much effort and resources simply to save one man with no use to her now. 

The reporters quiet, whispering among themselves. She readies herself to walk away when that same person speaks up again. They ask her, "And what of Hawks?" 

Years of practice keep her from freezing but the instinct to do so is still there. For the past twenty years, she'd weaved strings of plots together into a perfect web. Everything fell where it should and any trigger had an array of spiders to chase it off. Hawks departed with one of those strings still clinging to his flightless form. The more he pulled away, the more the web unraveled. If there's one thing she could change, it'd be that idiotic pawn who forgot how he's supposed to play this game.