Shitate Kazue leaned back in her chair, pinching the bridge of her nose after reading another failed interrogation of a Vespa.
The family had been a thorn in the commission's side since the Hero Public Safety Commission had been founded, but in the last two years they have become a far bigger headache than ever before.
The Vespas have been able to avoid the heroes more accurately, harder to track, and when they did manage to get their hands on one of them it was always a foot soldier that didn't know much if anything.
Which had quickly become a problem since they used to be able to leverage the captured lupus into giving them information of some kind in return for their freedom, but these foot soldiers knew nothing and didn't break easily if at all.
And such a change would be bad enough but the Vespas weren't the only people wising up and villains in general seemed to be getting stronger and smarter in the last few months, and they were more than happy to make the heroes they had been building up look like fools.
Kazue scowled knowing exactly who was responsible for this change.
Deku-Sensei.
When Nezu had first brought the info broker to their attention she had ordered a couple of workers to evaluate how dangerous this Deku-Sensei could be and she was assured the pest would burn themself out long before they grew into a proper problem.
That was clearly false.
Because now Deku-Sensei seemed to have his hands in everything and had gotten the attention of their silent benefactor.
And once he started asking questions of this Deku-Sensei she couldn't tell him much more than what he was, an info broker that specialized in quirks and was quickly gaining ground.
It wasn't from lack of trying on her end, she had been officially shutting down the investigation so her people could dig into this Deku-Sensei's background privately so she could see if there was any way for them to capitalize on the man's talents and extract him from the general population.
But whenever they got close a Vespa was there to shut them down and normally out whoever they sent undercover well before they could get anything useful.
And then there was Nezu repeatedly requesting for an investigation to be opened so they could find Deku-Sensei which was prevented from interfering because of a loophole.
Unfortunately the damn rat was persistent and had managed to get his official investigation after someone finally went on record saying the man was a real person.
Nomori didn't give many details of Deku-Sensei in the first interview and stopped talking about the man at all once he caught on that they wanted to arrest Deku-Sensei, they had offered the boy a much shorter sentence of only two years but Nomori hadn't budged and scowled at her employees when they tried to interview him about Deku-Sensei.
And knowing the rat he'd likely find Deku-Sensei before they would at this rate Kazue was forced to take drastic measures in order to prevent such a thing.
"Madame president, Hawks has arrived as requested." a voice told her through the intercom and she pressed the response button "Send him up." she ordered sitting up and making herself presentable.
Hawks was shaping up to be a rather worthwhile investment considering his success rate was going strong, and hopefully his streak wouldn't be broken, and he'd get them something on Deku-Sensei before the man became an even bigger, more visible problem for them.
There was a soft knock and Hawks waited for her to tell him to enter before he opened the door and step inside, closing the door with a single feather. Hawks said nothing and patiently waited for her to speak first, just as he had been trained.
"Hawks, there has been an information broker that has been causing us problems... namely he has been organizing and training low-level criminals so that when they attack, they are far more capable than they ever would be on their own." she explained pushing forward one of the files on her desk.
Hawks took the file with his feathers and began looking through the papers and mug shots of criminals they were sure were working with or under Deku-Sensei.
"Enough of a problem to require our attention?" Hawks questioned and she could understand his momentary confusion, an information broker was rarely something they'd do anything about since they were easy to pay off.
"We've yet to find out much about this Broker, he is far more cautious with his identity and has taken extreme measures to prevent people outside of his clientele from finding him, with this knowledge we believe that he doesn't plan to stay an information broker forever." she replied.
"In fact, with what we have been able to observe... we believe he might be making a move for more power in the underground, his influence has spread to every red-light district, and we have no idea how long he'll wait to expand to the areas outside of them." Kazue explained frowning.
"I see ma'am." Hawks responded with a nod.
"He already has some very powerful allies, he has been confirmed to work with both Morozov and the Vespas, and each group has been purposely sabotaging our efforts to find out more about this broker. And Nezu has finally gotten the investigation official so it won't be long until whoever this broker is they'll be brought in... I want you to ensure that we're the ones who'll do it." Kazue instructed threading her fingers together.
"Normal measures have failed thus far, which is why I want you to take lead on this Hawks. In this file you'll find the locations of higher tier Vespas who should have the info we'll need to track the broker down, with your speed it should let you catch them and we can find something more to go on." she commented as she pulled out another file for Hawks.
Walking forward Hawks put down the first file and took the other and began glancing through the contents "What is this broker's name?" Hawks asked.
"Deku-Sensei, I suspect you've already heard something of him before this given how far he's already spread his influence." Kazue answered and got a nod from the young man. "From what we can gather from his behavior, we believe this Deku-Sensei is a man somewhere in his mid-twenties or early thirties since he likely had a quiet growth period we've yet to discover." she said.
"We also have a few rough drafts of what his migrational routes could be based on his predicted pattern and past movements. We've adjusted your patrol so that you hit each of these spots nearby the agency four times a day at least." she informed him.
Hawks's lips twitched downward upon hearing that but he quickly wiped away whatever emotion tugged at them "Understood ma'am." he coolly replied with a bow of his head.
"Is there something about this plan that bothers you Hawks?" she questioned raising a single eyebrow.
"No Madame president." Hawks swiftly replied.
"Good. I expect results as soon as possible. And if you should get the chance to bring Deku-Sensei in alive... do not hesitate to take any means necessary, his capture is your top priority until stated otherwise Hawks." Kazue sternly instructed, standing from her chair and walking around to lead him to the door.
"As you wish Shitate-Sama." Hawks agreed following her to the door but not making any move to leave yet.
"You're dismissed Hawks." she told him giving him permission and he was promptly out of her office and back into his business.
Kazue shook her head, Hawks had come a long way in his obedience training but there were still moments where she'd would doubt he was fully committed to her, something that would need to be corrected if he continued to show them.
Her phone rang and she walked back to her desk and sat back down "President Shitate speaking." she said and her back straightened upon hearing a familiar deep chuckle.
"Hello Madame president." the man on the other side purred.
"Shigaraki-San, what can I do for you?" she asked, the hand not holding the phone balled up in a white knuckled fist.
Hawks sighed as he glanced at the addresses in the file, these were all over and he'd barely have a second to sit down much less do any proper surveillance at any of these locations.
He had heard bits and pieces of Deku-Sensei from an underground hero before today and even from what little the president had told him Deku-Sensei was a highly intelligent man and would definitely notice if one of the top ten was suddenly stalking the prefecture's entry points.
This plan was more than likely going to just drive Deku-Sensei further underground but Hawks knew better than to say anything about the plan either, he was trained for suppression not thinking, the HPSC had people for that.
His job was to close his mouth and do what they ordered him to do like a good little soldier.
Anything less would book him a one-way trip to re-training and Hawks would prefer to avoid that from happening more than was needed.
Speaking of disobedience however...
If his dietitian ever found out what he was about to do he would absolutely be sent back, because while going off his diet wouldn't be that big of an offence sneaking out to do it definitely would.
All of his feathers were safely tucked away at the apartment in such a way that they'd think he was taking a nap and he'd snuck out in some clothes he grabbed from a lost and found bin and a mask.
He was quite aware he had placed himself at a severe disadvantage by abandoning his feathers but he was desperate, he was so hungry and he just needed a bite or two of real meat then he'd be fine.
Hawks had spotted a mutation specialty store on the way to the HPSC HQ building and he'd just be out for ten minutes, maybe half an hour at most to get himself some mouse or some else to eat.
But he'd need to be very careful not to let anyone see his face though because if he was caught eating raw meat or animals at all for that matter his handlers would be very cross with him.
Hawks felt himself shiver involuntarily at the thought of what they'd do to him and immediately mentally scolded himself for the reaction and glanced around to make sure no one had made him yet.
The beanie and glasses covered what his face mask didn't, and without his wings he'd hope that his face wasn't as recognizable but he could not be too careful, the HPSC had people everywhere and fans could be very eagle-eyed.
Once he was actually in the shop he moved to the carnivore section and searched for something quick to eat and cheap, he only had a few notes on him since he didn't have much money not on the HPSC's account and he couldn't risk eating it in the apartment since there were listening devices all over.
However once he saw the rows of animals Hawks felt his mouth water and he wished he could have something live to eat and he couldn't tear his eyes away from a cage full of rats running around inside.
A deep yearning deep in his chest as he saw some live prey in front of him and he had to bite his lip to keep himself from scooping one of them up to eat at the moment.
"Are you okay sir?" a young voice asked beside him making Hawks jump and he whirled around and saw a green-haired boy with some items in a basket.
"Oh, yeah kiddo. I'm just fine." Hawks quickly replied brushing the boy off mentally cursing himself for forgetting where he was.
The greenette's eyes glanced at the rat cage Hawks was just staring at and blinked "Do you not have enough money for live food?" the boy asked innocently.
Hawks bobbed his head "Uh, yeah that's it, it's fine though I'll just get some chum chunks or something." Hawks confirmed hoping the boy would accept that and leave him to finish his own shopping.
The greenette pursed his lips "I can buy you a couple if you want?" the boy offered surprising him.
"Oh no, kid you don't have to do that-" Hawks tried to protest but the boy was already left and had grabbed an employee to get him some rats.
Even though he felt bad the kid was using his money on him when he had more than enough to buy the rats himself, Hawks couldn't deny how happy he was to have two whole rats to eat.
He hadn't had real meat in over a month and that was a small bag of chum chunks and these rats would taste so much better than those bits of random ground up mystery meat.
And he had to hold back the chirps he wanted to let out as he walked out with the greenette "Thank you for this kid, I really need this." he said and the boy simply smiled back.
"It's no problem, carnivore animal-quirked people need to eat prey and denying them that just isn't healthy you know, I can't count how many new stories I've read where kids went crazy and tried to eat someone because their parents couldn't accept they were carnivores." the boy waving him off.
Hawks winced remembering doing the same thing early on in his training... but he was better now, just so long as he stuck some meat once a month he could hold himself back.
"Here." the greenette suddenly said tossing him a small keychain of a little green parrot.
Hawks caught the shiny little trinket without thinking and before he could say anything the boy had run off.
Hawks shoulders sagged as he lost sight of the boy and he turned his eyes down to the keychain, then shook his head and stuffed it in his pocket, he wouldn't have much time left to eat the rats so he just started walking to the apartment complex.
Taking back alleys so he could eat the rodents in peace before he got back, feeling much more human again after just having one and relished how full he felt after the second one.
If he ever ran into the little greenette by chance he'd offer the kid an autograph for helping him.
下 (Shita) = Under
手 (Te) = Hand
下手 (Shitate) = Underhanded