[CHIRP ♪♪]

Guilty.

It was his plea. It was his verdict.

Gabriel believed in the system. There was a time he didn’t. During that time, Gabe acted on his own accord, playing hero without the license or resources to do the job justice. Time after time, he failed and left things worse than they were. Worse than if he would have called a hero for help. Worse than if he would have reported the bomb to the cops.

He could make as many excuses as he wanted. There wasn’t enough time. I had to do something. None of it mattered — even if it was true. The system is here to keep people safe. Because some people, people like ‘Chirp,’ thought they could act outside of it and save the day.

They couldn’t.

Even those who can can’t always.

Gabriel’s court case ends with a plea deal. To the public, he’d spend a few years in prison. But behind closed doors, a deal was struck.

Heroes from various agencies would find themselves in this small, confined room. A government official propositioned the following:

“Gabriel Dos Santos will be our double agent.” He said. “He will ‘escape’ from our facility and act on his own accord. It’s not a difficult sell. An attention-seeking, self-absorbed man —”

“I’ll do it,” Gabriel chirped. “Whatever it takes to help.”

Purpose never tasted so sweet.

“The rest of you will hold him accountable. If he needs to disperse vital information on the field, he’ll contact one of you. He is to never interact with the government in an official capacity. As far as everyone else is concerned — the police force, other hero agencies — ‘Chirp’ went rogue.”

Beat.

“Are we all on the same page?” He doesn’t wait for a response. “Good. Take his cuffs off. You have a five-minute head start.”

Without hesitation, he runs off.

---

CHIRP ♪♪

[Sadako Gotoh]

Initially, she was shocked to hear that Gabriel was guilty. She didn't know him particularly well personally, but she had seen him at work plenty of times. It was always disturbing when ugly truths came out about people who were close enough that you were familiar with them. With the meeting in the small room everything started to make more sense. ''Isn't that a bit harsh-'' Her voice was a mere whisper as she was about to come to the defense of Gabriel as he was called attention-seeking and self-absorbed. However, before she could he straight up just agreed to the deal.

She turned her attention to the government official and nodded, taking notes all the while. This was going to be an absolute headache for Ouros to handle publicly. An employee turning to crime and getting sentenced for it? They were never going to hear the end of it. She was already mentally preparing herself for the kinds of questions the press would ask them, a burden which was hers to carry. As smart as her business partner and co-owner of the Ouros Agency was, Iphigenia shouldn't concern herself with any of this. The reporters would just get in the way of her work and knowing her, her answers would probably be efficient and ruthless, not at all what the public needed to hear.

Still, none of that compared to the stress Gabriel was putting himself through. Working at a hero agency was one thing, but as a double agent? A mole had to blend in with the enemy and risk it all. He might never be able to let his guard down again, or risk certain death if he did. ''Got it.'' She let out a small sigh as she couldn't help but worry for him. ''We at Ouros have his back.'' She regretted not getting to know Gabriel sooner. If only she could have invited him for a cup of coffee before he had to embrace a life of crime.

CHIRP ♪♪

[Shirayuki Mai]

There was not a single thing Mai could say. Already she could imagine it was something she'd regret yet the words refused to form. Her fists clenched. No matter how much she wished to protest there was little she could say. Yet was it not a hero's duty to speak up and stand for what was right no matter what?

By the time she'd gotten past her own doubts Gabriel had already left the room. Her shame burned ever brighter. For in a way was this injustice not the fault of everyone in this room, including her? Certainly Gabriel's actions were wrong but did the very fact that no one else managed to stop the villainy he tried to fight prove their necessity? In Mai's opinion everyone here was to blame and forcing the most dangerous job on someone that tried to step in, misguided as they were, was an affront to everything they stood for.

"This is wrong." She finally said, yet even to herself the words sounded hollow, spoken far too late to matter. "You can't just force all the danger onto one person for-"

The failure of everyone here. Yet they already did, didn't they? Her eyes dropped. There was nothing she could do but hope for the best. Powerless. Just as she had been during Operation Babel. Just as she had been during the Elementalist's attack. Just as she would continue to be unless she acted.

"We must all take responsibility today. We cannot simply rely on the sacrifice of someone who had no humane alternative," Mai took a deep breath. "It is clear that we cannot do enough individually no matter how hard we try. Cooperation is our true strength and the time is long overdo that we make use of it."

She looked at each of the people present -except for the government official- in turn with determination burning in her eyes.

"Let us extend our alliance beyond this day and into the future. When time allows for it I will be contacting each of you so we may sit together and discuss how to best ensure the safety of Tokyo."

Briefly her gaze flicked to the government official responsible for this decision and she struggled to keep the disdain she felt off her face, turning on her heel instead and marching out of the door. 

"For now there is work to be done. This farce has taken far too much of our time."

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Tags: CHIRP ♪♪ Sadako Gotoh