Vigilante

Twenty Eight

“Everyone has their costumes right?” Aizawa checked again, “Remember, you don't have permission to wear them out in public yet, and don't lose them or anything.”

“Gotcha!” Mina exclaimed happily.

“Speak properly, it's Yes Sir Ashido.” Aizawa corrected, which caused her to deflate. 

“Yes sir.” She sulked, clutching her hero costume suitcase sadly.

“Make sure you mind your manners with the other heroes during your internships. Now get to it.” Aizawa told us.

“Yes sir!” We nodded, and then everyone went off to find the train they were supposed to catch. I myself grinned at Aizawa. 

“What are you still doing here?” He asked in annoyance. 

“I wanna annoy you a bit more.”

“Oh come on Vigilante, give the poor man a break.” Almost everyone in the train station paused as the new presence arrived, a grin on his face and his wings furling up. Hawks did a little salute as soon as he saw he had our attention. “Greetings Erasure.”

“Hawks.” Aizawa nodded. 

“Ready to roll, muh dude?” I asked, slinging my case over my shoulder. 

“Yeah man, let's fly.” Hawks and I high fived as Aizawa facepalmed.

“I could have sworn I said mind your manners but whatever.” He grumbled, walking away from the two of us as we laughed. 

“But for real, let's heave.” I said, pulling up his shadow. He nodded, and then we took off.

It didn't take us long to arrive at his agency from the train station with how fast we were flying, soon landing on top of the building. “So, what do we have in store for this week?” I asked, letting his shadow go back to him. 

“Well, we're mostly going to keep an eye on the league's movements, but other than that we'll be chillin'.” He explained. 

“Bruh, for real? League shit?” I groaned in annoyance. 

“Oh shut it, come on go get your costume on.” Hawks rolled his eyes, slapping me on the back. I stuck my tongue out at him. Heading inside, we descended the stairs. 

~•~

Interning with Hawks was definitely a good idea. It was kind of fun too, and useful as I now know more about the league than I ever needed to in the first place.

However, the one thing that caught me off guard was learning that my father had made contact with them. Not only that, but on the third day of internships, something I never expected to happen, happened.

"The hero killer was finally caught!" Was the first thing I heard when I walked into the office. When I heard it, I stopped dead in my tracks. "It was Endeavor! As expected of the number two hero."

Backing out of the office, I slowly walked back to my room. As soon as I closed the door, I fell to my knees and started bawling my eyes out. My dad had finally been caught, and there was nothing I could do to save him.

For the next few days, I felt numb and probably looked like I was a walking zombie.

"Hey Vigilante? You okay there? Need some coffee?" Hawks asked for the third time that day.

"No thanks, I'm fine." I gave him a forces smile, but of course he knew I was bullshitting.

"What's got you so down, bro? I don't think I've ever seen you so... Dead..." He muttered.

"Can we not talk about this? I really just want to focus on heroing right now." I told him, knowing full well I was just trying to avoid thinking about my father.

"Alright." Hawks resigned, sighing as he rubbing the back of his head. "Remember, you can't run from your problems forever."

"Geez Hawks, I didn't know you were so wise." I joked, which made him grin.

"There's the vigilante I know." He laughed, messing up my hair. I scowled at him, which only made him smirk lazily back at me.

That's basically how the rest of the internship went: he asked if I was okay, I'd say yes, he'd say no, then I'd crack a joke and we would move onto hero things. We would either patrol, or keep tabs on the league, or at worst do paperwork.

Once internships were over, I headed straight home. Knowing no one would be there to greet me was the worst feeling in the world. I opened the door and put my things down. Slowly walking to my dad's room, I stared blankly at the room. His bed was made, his clothes were folded, and I could see the outline of his spare costume in the closet.

But he wasn't there. My dad, the person who had taken me in when no one else was around, was gone. I knew it wasn't my fault, but I couldn't help but think if I hadn't gone to that internship, he might have come back.

Maybe if I had gone with Endeavor instead of Hawks, I could have saved him. Maybe, just maybe, he would still be here.

With that thought, I burst into tears again. Throwing myself on the bed, I clutched his pillow as I cried. Why did Endeavor have to catch him?! How come he didn't escape like he usually would? Why did he have to leave me?!

I asked myself all of these questions, laying in the fetal position and crying until eventually I fell asleep.