You know, Hawks hated being right sometimes.
He had followed President Shitate's orders to a T, and as he expected for a smart person who knew they were being targeted the man went to ground and despite being just as active as ever it was hard to get any traces of Deku-Sensei's paper trail.
Hawks had taken a stab at searching the confirmed connected and caught criminals' banking records and found only a few transactions that would be big enough for a payment, this theme had led to two theories for how Deku-Sensei might accept payment.
While it was all but confirmed Deku-Sensei only took cash it was currently unknown whether Deku-Sensei took money in installments which would make sense of the smaller regular withdrawals in some of the accounts or one lump sum and a percentage of the money from whatever heist they pulled for the accounts that only had the one big withdrawal.
Hawks wasn't alone in the belief it was probably both, though he was pretty sure Deku-Sensei might be bartering with his information as well, like with certain groups, the Vespas for instance.
It was old school and wouldn't work for most but Deku-Sensei's info was clearly the good stuff and most people recognized that so Hawks could see Deku-Sensei getting away with it, hell the H.P.S.C. wanted to "catch" him, Hawks was pretty sure that was bull and that President Shitate just wanted to get her hands on such a highly valuable resource.
It only took him only an hour to decide that trying to find Deku-Sensei through his payments would take far too long and he'd need to focus his efforts elsewhere.
So, Hawks instead chose to look at all of the individuals they had confirmed to be linked with Deku-Sensei to see if he could find anything to connect them or perhaps even a type of clientele that Deku-Sensei preferred, since that could help it finding a way to get in direct contact with Deku-Sensei.
The only problem was that Deku-Sensei seemed to not have any preference for who he worked with or for... well no, that wasn't true according to one interaction he had by chance.
Hawks had landed on a water-tower near a Vespa meet up place by some warehouses with the hope that he'd be able to rest for a few seconds to catch his breath but had stumbled upon a meeting between one of the more famous Vespas Raijin and a higher tier of villain Muscular, Hawks immediately moved to observe from where he wouldn't be caught.
Getting close enough to hear without Raijin catching him would be difficult but how loud Muscular was being made it a bit easier but his entire body stiffened once he heard Deku-Sensei name and the two arguing over him.
"Look you meathead, Deku-Sensei ain't interested in working with people like you!" Raijin yelled ears flat with anger.
Hawks sharply inhaled upon hearing that, Muscular was a bad enough villain with his own psychopathy and the idea of him getting stronger certainty made him shiver.
"You won't even try-" Muscular scoffed but Raijin stomped his foot interrupting him.
"Because Deku would never entertain a child murderer like you, you malato figlio di puttana!" Raijin hissed little crackles of electricity sparking over his body as a further visible expression of his rage.
Hawks' eyes widened, he had heard some of the Vespas' had a secondary quirk which gave them abilities other than a rabbits but he hadn't expected to see one of said Vespas even though he knew Raijin was one the few believed to have them.
The fight that broke out after that comment was predictable, with Muscular beefing himself up and taking swings while Raijin smoothly avoiding the blows and keeping some distance, however it wouldn't last forever and Muscular snagged Raijin by his long braids and held the relatively small man up by them.
"Ain't even going to spill much blood you damn rodent." Muscular huffed bringing back a fist and wrapping it in even more muscle.
Hawks wings twitched into place for him to use instinctually and he was just about to send them out when Raijin with great speed brought up both his legs and kicked Muscular straight in the teeth, the shock from the blow making the villain reel back as blood filled his mouth.
Taking advantage of Muscular's loose grip Raijin yanked his hair out of Muscular's grip and stayed on the ground long enough to bounce clear in the air a good foot above Muscular, the small crackles of energy now large and solely circling one of Raijin's legs.
Raijin brought his foot down squarely on Muscular's metal eye and Hawks heard a thunderous crack as the rabbit basically electrocuted Muscular.
The fight was completely over after that and Muscular's limp, albeit twitching body fell without any fan-fair into a sump on the ground, Raijin huffed and tapped the foot that he struck the fallen villain with nothing short of annoyance.
Hawks should take this moment to swoop down and catch Raijin, the man was distracted by Muscular and Raijin would be a prized catch that seemed to be able to give them some good info on Deku-Sensei in the process.
He readied his wings and was about to launch himself into the air when Raijin turned his head back to stare right at Hawks "You finally going to come down from your stoop Tweety?" Raijin teasingly called.
*Fuck, I was made.* Hawks cursed but didn't let his distress show he clapped for the man and carefully jumped down from his hiding place "You seemed to have everything covered and I wouldn't want to stop the show." Hawks replied cocking his head to the side.
Raijin's smirk didn't drop and he turned around fully to face him "The number three a voyeur? I mean you have a predator animal quirk and all but if the tabloids got a hold of this? Ooh imagine the headlines." Raijin said cocking his hips to the side.
Okay he was definitely being flirted with, Hawks could work with that, he just needed to play that up and maybe Raijin would lower his guard enough for him to get an opening.
"Hm, I think you missed counting there bunny, I'm number four not three." Hawks corrected stepping closer by a few feet.
Raijin scoffed "Nah, just about everyone who ain't blind knows the number two should have been locked up years ago." the man joked rolling his eyes.
Hawks wings twitched hearing that. Endeavour was always the best person and the few times he's met the guy in person weren't pleasant but he wasn't that bad, his handlers always praised him for trying to be like the Hell-fire hero.
"Eh, is that so?" Hawks questioned slightly unsettled but careful not to let it show.
"Of course, no one's going to de-throne All Might until the fucker's ready to retire, Endeavour can do one, Best Jeanist is alright and that leaves you at number three Tweety." Raijin explained moving closer and was only a few inches away, Hawks tried to smile back.
"Aww... Well call me flattered bun- Gah!" Hawks tried to said only to give an undignified screech as every one of his nerves cycled through hot, cold, and pain as he fell back.
Before he could recover from whatever had happened he felt Raijin jump onto his chest and electricity flowed down the man's legs to his body keeping him in place as all of his muscles refused to move other than twitching.
"Apologies Tweety, but I ain't planning to go through the legal system today... Honestly if you weren't one of the few heroes Deku has a soft spot for you I wouldn't be playing so nice with you," Raijin commented with a shrug before he leaned in "Pretty face or not love bird~." Raijin commented with a wink.
Hawks grit his teeth and tried to move one of his feathers but Raijin increased the voltage for a second and a pained squawk flew from his lips before he could stop it "Sorry Tweety but I can't let you get up just yet, got to knock you out first so you don't follow me." Raijin apologized not sounding very sincere.
Hawks stared up at Raijin and the electricity must have made it hard to hide his emotions "Oh don't worry love bird, I've had plenty of practice to just knock you out, I wouldn't want to make Deku upset by killing you off." Raijin cooed at him before plunging Hawks into white hot pain that left him totally numb as was ripped from consciousness.
When Hawks came back around his vision was swimming and his wings spasmed when he moved them, the headache wasn't much better but Hawks has worked through worse and pushed himself to his feet, his vision and the headache led him to stumble for a second but easily corrected and scanned his surroundings.
He was still at the empty warehouse yards and other than Muscular's slumped body it was completely empty and he cursed himself for getting so close and be so naive to let a electricity-quirked person that close to him, stupid predator quirk must of tricked his mind into not register Raijin as a threat because he was prey.
Shaking his head Hawks checked his phone for the time and saw he was only out for a few minutes and saw about twenty different messages from his handlers, Hawks sighed and walked over to Muscular's form with caution using his feathers to pin the man and check his pulse.
Hawks sharply inhaled and moved his feathers to search for any trace of a pulse but failed to find anything, the man was stone-cold dead and there wasn't any sign of life.
Raijin's kick must have been a death blow for his body to be dead and not even twitching anymore, the same electricity that had kept him paralyzed had most certainty killed Muscular outright and would have done the same if Raijin wasn't so kind, a thought that caused him to unconsciously shiver.
His phone rang again and he'd answered it almost expecting the anger that his handler immediately had unleashed upon him demanding an explanation for the last few minutes, Hawks calmly told them of the fight between Muscular and Vespa Raijin which led to the former's death, then of how Raijin had knocked him out.
A local hero and a group of officers arrived shortly after and cleaned up the scene and took away the body of Muscular while Hawks gave his official report to the police while he was examined by a HPSC medic, he had been cleared to continue his patrol and was sent off to get back to work.
He was careful not to stress his wings since they would twitch on occasion but did his best to not let it show since he could not let himself be sidelined without consequences, his handlers were pissed enough with the delay and he didn't want to do anything else to risk them sending him back for retraining.
Hawks would rather be shocked by Raijin again then going back to the facility, at least Raijin didn't leave him with any permanent albeit invisible damage.
At the end of his patrol Hawks returned to his office and got started on his end of day reports, which was the least stressful part of his day since he could just sit down and just had to write things out, he could being eating as well but a single glance at the plate of kaisou salad made his empty stomach turn in on itself.
At least the day wasn't a complete lost, he had learned some important things, namely that Deku-Sensei had his eye on the heroes and he had favorites, though how he picked favorites, how many heroes Deku-Sensei "liked", or why he liked them was up in the air.
He might be able to leverage that somehow into getting a meeting or perhaps a line of communication with Deku-Sensei himself, he could try to speak through the Vespas but given his encounter with Raijin that might not work out too well for him.
And Deku-Sensei didn't work with people who harm children which was a limit on clientele that they didn't have before.
Hawks stomach protested and he winced as it made it painfully obvious and Hawks had to hold back a whimper, his eyes flashed over to the shiny green parrot keychain and thought back to last week, he unconsciously licked his lips as he thought of those rats he was given, that was the only time could have ever remember eating live prey and it was heavenly.
His handlers gave him some meat to keep him alive of course, but those slices of random meat once a month were hardly enough for him.
Suddenly a traitorous thought in his mind found its voice, one encouraging him to sneak back out and find himself something to eat and Hawks... didn't immediately shut it down.
Sneaking out twice in one month would be risky but if he could somehow get his hands on something alive, it might just be worth it.
*Damn it... * Hawks thought and carefully rearranged his feathers so he could leave unnoticed, Hawks swiftly moved and only paused to grab his bird keychain before rushing to the lost and found bin to find a suitable disguise.
This would be very risky but he didn't let himself be swayed even if he shivered from the disconnect of having his feathers so far from his body, there was a mutation shop a couple blocks away and he'd just need to jog five minutes and he could get something to eat.
Hawks had just spotted the neon sign and his mouth watered at the thought of biting down on something with fur, lost in his mind he didn't see the person coming out of an alley and crashed into someone with a sharp chirp.
"Oh my gosh I'm so sorry, are you okay?" a young familiar voice said helping to steady him.
Shocked his head darted up and was surprised he saw the kind greenette from last week, it was likely just a coincidence but the avian part of him was thrilled to see the boy, he could see the boy's eyes go wide and for a second he was terrified that the boy would recognize him through his rushed disguise.
"Oh I remember you! From last week, right? I helped you get some rats because you didn't have the money on you." the boy commented and Hawks quickly nodded.
"Y-yep, that's me!" Hawks confirmed to avoid the boy from straying from thinking even harder on why he was familiar, Hawks also ignored the part of him that wanted to preen over the boy remembering him.
"Are you heading to Ammi's too? Need to get some more prey? That would make sense since it's been a week." the boy guessed and Hawks figured "Ammi's" was short for "Amazon's greenhouse", the shop he was headed towards.
"Yes, I was hoping to get something." Hawks confessed walking alongside the boy to "Ammi's", that was a much nicer name and shorter too.
"That's good, I doubt the rats would last you for this long. You brought some money this time right? Wouldn't want to be short like last time." the boy joked and Hawks was about to answer when his heart dropped like a stone, his hands immediately went to his pockets and realized he had forgotten to grab any money at all.
Hawks wilted and he cursed himself for being so stupid to risk re-training and not even be able to get anything and he couldn't stop tears from pricking the corners of his eyes, the kaisou salada was disgusting and slimy but at least it was something he could manage to digest if he kept a hand over his mouth so he didn't regurgitate it.
The boy placed a hand on his shoulder "Hey, hey. It'll be okay, alright. Muggings happen all the time around here, everything will be fine once you talk to the police about it. You'll need to eat though so I'll buy you some prey again, it's only a little yen and I won't miss it." the boy offered.
Hawks stared at the boy surprised but selfishly nodded, it was horrible of him letting the boy think what he was and taking advantage of that to get some animals to feast on, but Hawks could easily be very selfish and this was one of those moments.
The boy was very nice as he chatted with Hawks, asking about his preferences for prey animals to eat and Hawks fumbled for a bit since he didn't know if he liked reptiles, avians, or rodents over one or the other.
Hawks felt a tiny bit better about fleecing the poor boy by helping him carry the two baskets of different specialty items for other people, Hawks was tempted to ask why he was buying all of this since he didn't have a quirk that would need most of this stuff but if he started digging into the boy's business then the boy might dig into his.
Their last stop was the live prey section and the boy got him a bundle of twelve mice since there was a two-for-one sale on that which the boy said was a great deal, and Hawks was just happy to have so much prey to eat.
Hawks was sure they'd part ways after just like last time but the boy didn't run off this time and instead led him off to a quiet little place in the park so he could eat his prey in peace.
Hawks would be hesitant but the squeaks of mice and his stomach made up his mind and he grabbed up one of the mice and bit it in half, relishing at the small crunch of bones and the different textures in his mouth before swallowing.
And sighed feeling so much better after getting some real food in him and turned to thank the boy for helping him but stopped as he caught the slight flush in the boy's freckled cheeks.
Hawks swiftly remembered exactly why the HPSC were pushing so hard for him to stop eating meat period and never let him have fresh or raw meat in general.
Remembered how much of a freak he was.
An animal- No, a dangerous predator.
"I-I'm sorry kid I should-" Hawks quickly apologized cursing himself for forgetting himself and traumatizing the boy after he'd gone so far out of his way to help him indulge his selfish needs.
"Don't you dare apologize for your needs, it's different and I'm not totally used to people eating live prey in front of me but I will be the more I'm around it. It is not wrong." the boy firmly told him and very serious.
Hawks heart fluttered, it was the exact opposite of what his handlers told him and he wasn't sure he could handle hearing that and he quickly turned away from the boy and stared at the other half of the mouse he had just eaten.
"I, thanks kid, I really needed to hear that." Hawks forced himself to say then started nibbling on part of the mouse.
The boy smiled "It's fine, and you can call me Zuri. I'm a regular at Ammi's and I've never seen you around so you must have moved here recently right? So we're probably going to be seeing each other a lot from now on." the boy said introducing himself.
"O-oh, um yeah. Nice to meet you Zuri, I'm- I'm Tweety." Hawks lied quickly after fumbling for a name and picking the first thing that came to mind and wasn't connected to him.
The boy chuckled "Like the cartoon?" Zuri asked amused and Hawks nodded rubbing the back of his head.
"Yep." Hawks nervously confirmed.
"That's cool, you watch pre-quirk cartoons too? That's awesome." Zuri commented that started talking about the show "Tweety" was from and Hawks put the other half of the mouse in his mouth so he didn't have to answer, mainly because he had no idea what Zuri was talking about and didn't want to accidently out himself.
The next five minutes were filled by him eating mice and Zuri talking about this and that before checking the time, the boy huffed upon seeing it and apologized for having to leave so soon then promised to meet up with him next week before leaving Hawks alone in the park.
Hawks wasn't able to respond and Zuri was gone before he could say anything.
He felt disappointed as Zuri left, that was the best time he had ever spent with another person and Hawks would likely never see Zuri out of costume again, he couldn't let this become a regular thing or he'd be caught for certain and there would be severe repercussions for him.
Looking back down at the leftover mice and he felt even worse because this was going to be the last time he'd ever have live food, and he certainly felt guilty knowing he'd have to stand Zuri up because the boy was sure to take it personally.
*But what if you don't?* A voice in his mind whispered and Hawks bit his lip, looking down at the little keychain Hawks felt conflicted.
*Maybe I can... * Hawks selfishly thought as stared down at the remaining three mice and licked his lips.
*It's only once a week.* He thought despite knowing how risky it was to be for him.
But as he took another of the mice and devoured it, he couldn't help thinking that it would be worth it in the long run, for his sanity.
malato figlio di puttana
sick son of a bitch