Paperwork.

The one aspect of being a hero that Meiko truly despised. Everything else was understandable, bearable but paperwork. She just hated it from the bottom of her heart. And yesterday's incident involved a lot of work, given that there had been hostages. She was just glad not one of them was injured and the only destruction had been to the bank property itself. Still, that came with its own troubles.

Meiko stared down at the report. She was almost done with it. One last thing to write and all she would have to do was sign the report and she would be done. She sucked in a deep breath before she started to work on the last part. Just then, there was a knock on the office door. 

"Come in," Meiko spoke loudly, not lifting her head. 

From the corner of her eye, she saw Kagura enter the room, holding a file in her hand. She looked at Meiko. "Are you done with the report, Meiko-san?" 

"Almost," She replied, not looking up from the looking up. "Just this last bit is left. Why do you ask? Something come up or what?"

"Actually, yeah," Kagura answered. She walked forward, till she was directly in front of Meiko's desk, holding out the file. "This just came in."

Meiko looked up, staring at the bright red 'confidential' stamped on top of the brown folder. The folder belonged to the Astra agency and was pulled out by Kagura, only for cases that demanded special attention from Astra. Not even Ryu and Ichika were allowed to touch the folder, since most cases were very confidential, and were only meant for Meiko's eyes. 

She quickly signed the report she was working on, and handed it over to Kagura, taking the brown folder in exchange. Meiko flipped the folder open and read through, eyebrows slightly rising with every word. 

"Huh," Meiko spoke as she finished reading the file. After nearly three months of not being asked to work on a case, the HPSC was suddenly calling her out on one. The file barely had anything in it, only that she was to the Commission headquarters tomorrow. And also that the case was very-very confidential. "Kagura, I don't have anything lined up for tomorrow, do I?"

"No, not really," Kagura looked at her with curious eyes. "What's in the file?"

"Nothing," Meiko answered, with a slight shake of her head. "It's something for the Hero Commission. Don't worry about it. I just have to go there tomorrow, to see what this is all about."

"Damn, now I really wanna know," Kagura crossed her arms. "You'll tell us though, right?"

"Maybe," Meiko answered. "Let me just find out what this whole situation is about. Do you have anything else for me?"

"No," Kagura answered. "Nothing yet. Though, there are a few reports I want you to take a look at. I'll just go get them." She bowed her head a little, before quietly exiting the room. 

Once she was gone, Meiko picked up the confidential folder again. Putting her feet on her desk, she started moving her chair as she read through the report. On the second reading, she could find nothing, except the urgency of the message, or the fact that all of a sudden, she was being asked to do this. She couldn't even deny them; they were her employers and had granted her the hero license she had worked so hard towards. 

Tomorrow's meeting was going to be pretty interesting.

The HPSC was located in a massive building, with multiple stories and very sturdy windows to protect from attacks by villains who were foolish enough to try. Meiko had been here a few times, but that was only for small-time cases and she had gone to a conference room. This time though, she had been invited to the President's office, located on the upper echelons of the building, signifying her position at the top. 

Oddly enough, when she walked in, Meiko realized that there weren't many people there. There were a lot of people, but compared to what she had thought, the number was very less. Even the massive lobby had only two receptionists, who were both fielding many phone calls when Meiko had entered. There weren't many guards either.

'So I guess the rumors about the Commission being short-staffed are true,'  Meiko thought with a half-smile as she climbed into the elevator. 'No wonder things move so slow sometimes.'

She tapped her armored boot on the floor, watching as the numbers climbed higher and higher till they stopped at the number of her destination. The elevator came to a halt with a ping and the doors slid open. The corridor Meiko stepped out onto was empty, with lots of doors and pale grey walls. Such an unwelcome place, it felt like. 

She walked and walked straight down from the elevator, barely glancing at any of the doors, though her curiosity was certainly piqued by them. 

At the end of the corridor, next to a massive window, was a brown door with a nameplate hanging in the centre. In golden letters, was written a very obvious word. Meiko took a deep breath, released it and knocked on the door. 

"Come in," The tone of the voice was soft, but spoken in such a way, Meiko could feel the firmness in it.

She pushed open the door and entered the office. The walls were an even duller grey. That was the first thing she noticed. The second thing she noticed was that the President was seated at her desk (which was definitely mahogany wood) and two officials, dressed in black suits, and holding a file, standing next to her. And the third thing?

The third thing she noticed was a very familiar pair of bright red wing. Before she could stop herself, she spoke out in surprise. "Hawks?"

"Astra?!" Hawks' bright gold eyes widened behind his visor. His face was suddenly a mirror of her own surprise. 

Before either of them could say a word, the President spoke up. "Well, it is good to know that you both are familiar with each other."

Meiko straightened up and nodded. "We are," she said, hoping her nervousness didn't show in her voice. Something about the President felt a little too intimidating. Even though the woman looked rather old (she was probably middle-aged) and her straw-coloured hair was a little too pale, there was still an aura of power around her. 

The President continued to talk. "I'm sure you both are very curious as to why you have been called here."

"I'm not, but I don't know about her," Hawks answered casually, with a half-grin on his face as he pointed at Meiko. She glared at him, before looking back at the President again. 

'Please don't make me work with him. Please don't,' Meiko silently prayed, even though she knew it would be in vain. Because, of course, with her luck, she'd be forced to work with Hawks. After all, why would two heroes be specially called to the office of the President until and unless the HPSC wanted them to work together? 

Oh god. This was not going to be fun. 

"Astra," The President suddenly spoke, her voice firm. "A few months ago, on our behest, you worked on helping us track down the villain known as Cut."

"Yes," Meiko answered, resisting the urge to cringe. That had been one difficult case to solve and even though she had won, she had ended up...well, with a lot of cuts. Hawks started humming under his breath. 

"It seems that your report back then, that Cut could be working with other people was true," The President continued. "We have found evidence that he was working with someone from Kataoka Corporation to embezzle money from the company and buy illegal weapons and drugs from a gang near the warehouse sector in Fukuoka. A gang that Hawks worked to take down around the same time."

"So there were stragglers left," Hawks murmured, but loud enough that everyone in the room could hear. "I knew I should have checked. But there was that other mission you sent me off too."

"Nothing can be done now," The President said, looking at him with quite an odd look. "We want you both to work together in ensuring that Cut's partner, whoever they are, and the gang do not team up and try to do something to threaten people's lives." She glanced at the two officials (guards?) and waved her hands. The official on the right came up to her and the official on the left to Hawks. Both heroes were handed the files.

Meiko instantly flipped it open and started skimming through. The first few pages were recognizable. They contained the report she had filed when she had captured Cut. The latter few pages were unfamiliar, probably the report that had been filed by Hawks. 

'Or his sidekicks,' Meiko added as an afterthought. Hawks felt like someone who was pretty lax about paperwork. A second later though, the President's words finally sank into her mind. 

We want you both to work together. 

Oh, holy shit. 

Keeping a steady smile on her smile, Meiko lightly bowed. Working with Hawks?? That sounded like a really terrible dream come to life. She didn't dare look at Hawks, for the fear that an accidental insult might slip out. Instead, she chose to look at the file again. For some reason, the company, Kataoka Corporation felt strangely familiar. 'Where have I heard their name before?' 

Realizing she had zoned out, Meiko returned her attention to the President. But by then, the briefing was already over and the HPSC head dismissed them both.

"You two can go now." 

"Alright," Meiko said with a stiff smile. She was eager to get out of the office and get to work. Or drown herself in work, so that she didn't have to think about this stupid case or the fact that she had to work with Hawks.

Hawks, in the meanwhile, was keeping his usual grin on his face. But internally, there was no smile. He didn't like working with other people. He always preferred working alone. Others...they just weren't able to work as fast as he did and their speed tended to slow him down. But he had long learnt to accept what the Commission demanded. At least he was working with Astra.

Astra was one of the few people he knew that could keep up with him. What was it that the media called her? Right. The golden girl of heroes, forever working so hard. Maybe that could be a nickname he could use. Oddly enough though, as he scanned her body language through the corner of her eye, she didn't seem like she wanted to be on this case. Hawks would have to ask her about that.

Astra was definitely an interesting hero.

So, we have Astra and Hawks working on a case!! which means patrolling together, and that means lots of tension and banter and so much more hehe. and there is a special hint at something here that will come into play in the later chapters; if you catch that, I'll give you a virtual cookie 😜

Till then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!