Beautiful Disasters- Hawks x OC

Chapter 71

Three weeks had passed since the Division 1 Alpha Squadron and the League of Villains had agreed to temporarily join hands with the objective to eliminate Mineko Shimizu. The first stage of the mission had already been underway: locating the base. Mariko herself had gone to North Korea to find out where she was hiding. Since then, Hayato and Araya had explored a few more options, none of which had been a hit.

For once, Keigo was actually hoping one of them would contact them soon. It had been weeks of nothing but radio silence from Araya, Hayato, and the League. Waiting around wasn't exactly his forte (there was a reason why speed was his most noted quality). He was frustrated to now end and was even starting to get irritated with his girlfriend who seemed to be taking it all in stride. "How the hell are you so calm?" he asked, not bothering to mask the bitterness in his voice. He had his hand stuffed into his pocket, holding on to his cellphone just in case he got a notification.

"I grew up in the division Kei. Waiting is part of the job. You kinda just learn to live with it," she told him. She was currently reading a book, trying to get her mind off the upcoming mission. She would never dare admit it to the blonde, but she was actually feeling nervous about the assignment. When they found the base, the next step would be finding a way in. Their best bet at catching all of the villains working there and killing Mineko would be for someone to go in on friendly terms and map out the base accurately with no time constraints. It was a long shot though because the ones who had the best chances at not getting killed on sight were the members of the League. None of whom had official military training and wouldn't be skilled or comfortable using the devices they used for mapping. Mariko also knew that Mineko didn't trust people, especially when they tried to get close to her; so, there was virtually no way their arrival wouldn't cause suspicion. Their only chance was a distraction; something that would get them through the doors and keep her occupied long enough for the job to be completed. "Things will start getting more dangerous from now on," she thought.

Just as Keigo opened his mouth to complain more, Mariko's phone rang. It was Araya. "It's Araya, must be something about the mission," she said swiping to accept the call.

In a flash, the blonde was sitting next to her, some feathers he'd left behind fluttered to the ground making her sigh. She'd just vacuumed.

"Hey, how are you? It's me and Hawks here by the way," she told him, putting him on speaker.

"Good, I wanted to talk to the both of you anyway. Two birds one stone or whatever. Anyways we've got a meeting tomorrow at 4:30 a.m. at the warehouse off of seventh to discuss the mission," he informed them.

"What, no case file this time?" she asked curiously.

"Nope. The general decided that we won't be leaving a paper trail for the duration of the assignment" he stated.

Mariko stiffened. No paper trail meant absolutely no one could know they were even on a mission. If you died, no one would know that either unless they saw it with their own eyes. "Why would the mission suddenly be classified like that? It wasn't the last time we did it. Araya definitely wasn't the one to come up with that idea," she contemplated. Her eyes widened when she realized who would be taking lead in this mission, "oh shit."

"Mari, you know what that means right? Get your things in order, just in case. Same procedure as always."

"Got it. We'll see you tomorrow," she said, and quickly hung up the phone before Araya could say anything else.

Keigo stared at her. He knew something about the no paper thing had worried her. He wasn't familiar with the term though, at least not in the same context she seemed to know it in.

"No paper trail, what does that mean?" he asked.

The brunette's expression was devoid of emotion; it was completely blank. He'd come to realize it was a mechanism she used to prepare herself whenever she was going to tell him something she knew he wouldn't like.

"It means there can't be a single drop of evidence that the mission existed, let alone that we were a part of it. It means it's high risk," she explained.

"So when he said to get our things in order-"

"He meant that we should make sure everything is squared with the bank and lawyers so that if you die on the mission there's no fuss about lack of a body and there are no issues with your will."

The male froze. He was used to being in the face of danger but dying wasn't something he really thought about when it came to work. Talking about it concretely now though, he realized that unlike before, if something happened to him, he would be leaving behind someone precious to him. Not only that, but Mariko too would be throwing herself in danger. Far more terrifying than something happening to him was something happening to her. Alarm bells went off in his head and everything in him screamed to protest, say something, anything to convince her to stay.

To Mariko, the look on his face said it all. She sighed and took his hand in hers, lacing their fingers together. "Kei, look at me," she said.

The blonde looked at her and she knew he was struggling with letting her be in the operation no matter what role she would be playing. "It's gonna be fine. We're gonna be just fine," she assured him.

He looked at her disbelievingly. "You expect me to believe BS like that when you looked like you were about to pass out hearing those words?" he asked.

She cracked a small smile, "It wasn't our safety I was worried about."

"Then what?"

"Hayato won't be joining us on the mission," she stated. "It's high risk and he's got a wife and kid. He won't put himself or them in danger like that.... I'm worried about who's going to replace him as a lieutenant." "It's not a lie," she told herself, "It's a half-truth."

There were very few people in the Division who would even have the clearance to know about this mission, and even fewer with the will to do it. Actually, there was only one person Mariko could see accepting this assignment. He'd been her lieutenant when she was squad captain. The man she was thinking of was a brilliant planner, he followed orders beautifully and he was excellent in combat, firearms, and explosives. He had just one very prominent flaw: he only planned for the mission's success. Deaths, casualties, and trauma were of no consequence to him- he didn't even think about them. "If Araya chose him to be the stand-in for Hayato. The mission's a lot more dangerous than even he's letting on."

He hadn't picked up on it which was a bit surprising, but when Araya had mentioned the mission not leaving a trail, he'd said "get your things in order." Not you guys. Keigo wasn't included in that sentence. Ergo, the one who was at high risk on the mission was her.

"Why would that matter?" the blonde asked.

Mariko looked at him, "Because if it's who I think it is, this mission is gonna be hell."