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Babybird

Chapter 68: HPSC

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Takami Keigo: Musutafu, Japan.

 

Keigo jolted awake. Wings thudded against the coffee table, and couch. They, along with the containers from last night’s dinner went flying. He’d rolled off the couch in the middle of a nightmare. He stayed there. On his hands and knees on the floor trying to calm himself.

 

Deep breaths. He hadn’t been sleeping well the last few days since Hinadori had left for camp. He’d finally managed to get a little sleep after patrol but it didn’t last long. The apartment was too quiet. He could barely remember a time before Babybird. He could always hear her padding around in her room. He knew the distinct noise of her knocking things over with her wings, followed by the expletives she thought he couldn’t hear. At some point it had become subconscious habit to listen in on the feather hidden among her stuffed animals. Even on missions he could count on gentle deep breaths, and a smooth heartbeat meant she was safely in bed.

 

But she wasn’t, she was off on a school trip. Probably not even supervised given all of UA’s careless mistakes this year. Keigo wished she’d picked any other school. He needed to get his mind off things. Hinadori was smart, too smart for her own good sometimes. It was starting trouble with the commission. He’d spent years convincing them she was only a support type. Her quirk would allow  medical support, and information gathering in rescue, or recovery operations.

 

Keigo picked himself up off the floor. He had to do something, anything to stop thinking. He shuffled down the hall passing the shared bathroom. It was a complete mess. Skincare products, a bunch of different scented hand soap’s, and acne treatments she didn’t really need surrounding the single clean spot on the counter. That was where she sat to get a closer look in the mirror. He’d been putting if off for weeks. Too busy with patrols, or cooking breakfast, packing lunches, and making dinner. He might as well have two full time jobs, and work overtime at both.

 

Worse yet he’d started developing a soft spot for Tokoyami. In Keigo’s opinion the first good friend she’d made, though Todoroki wasn’t bad when he wasn’t burning her. The poor kid had to learn how to oil his feathers in their chaotic bathroom. It might have been better if she had made a mess with the oil, then he would’ve cleaned it before inviting someone over.

 

“Babybird!” Keigo groaned, opening up the cabinet under the sink to find the cleaning supplies only to notice something important was gone. “What could you possibly have done with the fire extinguisher?! No way you lit something on fire and didn’t tell me…right?!”

 

Keigo sent feathers that started clearing the cabinet, while looking for any evidence of a possible fire. Sure enough, hidden under a basket full of random face masks there was a scorched ring on the cabinet. What could’ve? No, he’d just ask her when she got home. He started moving things around, putting everything back where it goes. All of her skincare in one container, and adding her headband she’d left on his side, back with it. Feathers scrubbing every surface including the floor and bath for a more efficient clean.

 

Was that just a cup? Why was there a cup in the bathroom? He definitely didn’t put the cup in the bathroom. At least if it where in the bathtub he could understand a use. It wasn’t moldy at least. Keigo thought to himself grabbing it and walking it to the kitchen.

 

*Vrr* *Vrr*

 

Keigo sighed at the sound of his phone buzzing across the room. He sent a feather to retrieve it while he washed the few dishes that had piled up.

 

“Go for Hawks.” He spoke, putting on his trademark nonchalant attitude.

 

“There’s been another incident with UA.” Keigo’s heart dropped as one of his sidekicks gave him the report. “Twenty seven students where injured fifteen of them were admitted in critical condition.”

 

“Take care of my regular schedule, I’m heading to Nagano Prefecture.” Keigo ordered, tossing the dishes back in the sink. Sending feathers to grab his jacket. “Just send me the location of the hospital.”

 

“You didn’t even let me finish…” He hung up. He didn’t have time for sidekicks being emotional.

 

It had to be Hinadori. It was always Babybird. She couldn’t stop herself from trying to help people. He straightened his wings all the way out as his feathers pulled his jacket onto him. He needed to be there, to see how bad things were himself. Doctors had a tendency to lie about the severity of injuries especially when it came to people with healing quirks. That accompanied by hollow bones and her weaker immun system, put Hinadori in even more danger.

 

“I’m comin’ ducky, don’t worry.” Keigo said to himself as he took off for the balcony. Inadequate care from a doctor that didn’t understand their patients needs would not be how he lost his babybird.

 

It was three and a half hours of straight flight. At least it would’ve been if he wasn’t pushing himself as hard as he could. What was a three hour workout to him. Nothing if it meant everything would be okay. He pulled up his directions on his phone. If someone were to get a photo of that he’d probably be ripped to shreds about how it was just as unsafe as texting and driving because of how fast he was going. The commission would get it taken down before it could get any real traction though, and he’d get a long winded rant. A few patrols in less desirable areas, maybe an unfortunate mission, but it was a calculated risk. They were all problems he could deal with later.

 

He landed in front of the smaller hospital. That was not a good sign. Smaller hospitals mean less money, less up to date equipment, and less educated staff. With the sudden influx of patients they were most likely spread thin. With fifteen critically injured patients, they either prioritized Hinadori so she could help them or put off proper treatment since she could take care of herself. Keigo pushed open the doors and made his way straight to the front desk.

 

“Aren’t you Hawks?! You’re the number three hero!” A nurse gaped, staring wide eyed. “Oh! You must be here about the U.A. students!”

 

“You’ve got me there. I’ll need a list of the students who were brought here, and what rooms they’re in.” Keigo gave her his fakest smile. This would be faster. Hinadori hadn’t texted or called him since he left to come here. That meant either her phone was broken, or she was unconscious.

 

“Right here.” The nurse smiled, handing him a list of names and room numbers. “Every student we’ve been treating, and their room numbers. I hope you find out who did this, those poor kids look rough.”

 

“I’ll handle this, that’s a guarantee from number three.” He said, forcing his voice to be carefree. His eyes though were focused on the paper scanning for their last name.

 

“I know you’re a hero and all so you probably see it every day but you might wanna brace yourself before going into four or eleven, they’re both still unconscious. It’s hard seeing a kid beaten and burned that bad.” Keigo took off for those rooms before she could say another word.

 

Opening the door he found Midorya Izuku. The green hair boy had broken both arms and had a massive black eye. Not surprising considering he tore himself apart at the sports festival. He didn’t stay for a better look. Hinadori was either in room eleven or in much more trouble for not calling him to say she was ok. He saw Yaoyorozu first, unconscious. Her head wrapped in bandages. On the other bed was his Babybird.

 

She was beat to hell.  Absolutely covered in scratches, and burns. She had maybe six or seven intact feathers, the rest were presumably burned away. It seems like they’d at least treated the burns, the scratches had only been cleaned not bandaged. It was reasonable given the circumstances, and surge of patients overnight, but that didn’t mean he was satisfied. He took a deep breath sitting in the chair the hospital provided next to her bed. She was alive. Her injuries, though painful, could heal. She was going to be okay.

 

*Vrr* *Vrr* Keigo’s phone was vibrating in his pocket. He took a long deep breath. He told them to cover his schedule. They should be able to figure it out without him, but he has to do everything. Except when he looked down it wasn’t one of his sidekicks or the HPSC dispatch number. It was the President of the HPSC herself.

 

“Go for-“ He was cut off immediately.

 

“I believe it’s time for us to revisit our discussions about the child in your care.” Keigo’s heart sunk as she spoke. “You will be in my office first thing in the morning.”

 

“Yes, madam president.” He replied, before the call disconnected.

 

“What have you done Babybird?” Keigo asked, leaning forward he slipped a feather around her wrist and kissed her forehead. “I’ve tried so hard to keep you under their radar.”

 

She could be angry with him when she woke up, but if he had to leave her like this he needed a way to make sure she was okay. Yaoyorozu was stirring in the other bed, awake for only long enough to register him before fading back out. She had a pretty bad head injury. It made since but he couldn’t help but be grateful he hadn’t found Hinadori like that. Even though he could hear her heartbeat the idea of her fading away right in front of him was horrific. Risking her leaving him a million little times.

 

In the morning Keigo reluctantly left. The idea of what the commission may have in mind tearing him apart from the inside. He felt sick. It was akin to the gnawing feeling of knowing you could’ve saved someone and didn’t. How much had he sacrificed for safety he was about to lose. When he stepped into her office it was the kind of calm before a storm.

 

“We’ve allowed you several leniency’s when you came here. At your request we not only took you in, and got your mother the help she needed, but we let you keep your little sister. You fought at seven years old for us not to take her away, and we honored that request. With one condition, you’re training to become a hero with the HPSC would be your sole focus in life.” She started, looking up from her desk.

 

“It always has been.” Keigo nodded, standing attentively.

 

“Then why have you been lying to us?” Madam President demanded.  

 

“I have never intentionally lied to the HPSC.” He lied, with resolve.

 

“When she was five and began gaining the ability to control her feathers the same way you did, we tried to test her. You told us, without a doubt, her feathers were too weak to be used in the same manner as yours.” She continued, flipping through reports on her desk. She’d been studying her facts before he arrived.

 

“I stand by that.” Keigo replied, eyeing the papers.

 

“Then why have we received reports from UA and The Wild Wild Pussycats that she, in fact, does have the ability to harden her feathers? On top of that that she’s been showing an aptitude for learning new techniques using them.” The commission president asked.

 

“It’s not that black and white. It’s clearly an emotional response.” He argued. He was prepared, because she did not belong here.

 

“We would’ve taught her to control her emotions the same way we did you. It took her three days to consistently get results. It took months of dedicated work to get you to that point.”  The president’s assistant cut in.

 

“We were working from scratch, she’s basing her training off what she knows I can do.” Keigo said, biting back his temper.

 

“We would have done the same.” Madam president said, sharply. “This game is over. You need to being her in. We’ll start her training as soon as she’s recovered.”

 

That can’t happen. Keigo could not let that happen. He might not want Babybird at UA, but that was far safer than with the commission.

 

“You think it’s a good idea for the number three hero to pull his kid out of UA after another villain attack? Everyone saw us together at the sports festival. They saw her at the sports festival, she went viral. People are already questioning their faith in UA. Pulling her out now will cause public trust to collapse entirely.” He argued, hoping she could see reason.

 

“I see…” Madam president replied, pondering what he’d said.

 

“If these attacks continue it would also be helpful to have a direct untampered source of information. We were able to obtain far more information from Hinadori than the hero reports during the USJ attack because she was on the field, the same goes for this attack. Direct reports unfiltered by Pros or the UA staff. It would be imperative to keep her where she’s at. At this point it’s almost certain UA must have a mole feeding the villains information as well. If you pull her you risk them believing she was the mole.” Keigo added, watching her make her decision.