05/11/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 66 - Long Suffering Civilians

Karou Andaru still wasn't sure if he liked his job. It was monotonous, repetitive and pretty much the same every day. He sat and took reports from underground heroes, verifying their missions and noting down any intel they had before passing it up the line.

A few years ago though, someone had twigged that he heard a lot of classified information. Sure, most underground heroes stopped muggings and other low-level crime, but there were those who went after the truly dangerous villains as well, and Karou took their reports too. And despite the fact that most underground heroes went after low level crime, they heard a lot, so Karou heard a lot about what was going on in the underworld.

The result of that someone twigging was that Karou had been moved to another role for a month or two, before he was shuffled back to his regular gig.

With a pay rise.

And an increase in his security clearance.

It had been enough to keep him here, even though dealing with the idiosyncrasies of the underground heroes was… ugh… just ugh… At least the Trinities had retired. Trinity Yellow got pregnant or something and the others decided to take up a new vocation. But the heroes who replaced them…

Karou sighed. He swore they were getting worse! One day he'd find out that there was a little competition to see which of the underground heroes could get him to write the most of their reports. It sounded like something they'd do.

And then there were the annoyances such as the one that had just barged in now. He couldn't see her. No one could but he could see enough clothes moving towards him. Karou raised one finger to pause Waterwave's report. The underground hero saw the clothes as well and took a step back.

With the pay rise, someone had also decided that he should hear from the Hero Public Safety Commission's spies. Some of them anyway. Karou didn't know much about the spies. They ranged in age and experience. There wasn't any passcode or anything for them to identify themselves with. Karou knew it was a bit of a misnomer to call the people he heard from spies. They were more… casual informants. The real spies dealt with real handlers, and he had nothing to do with them. These guys came to see him at the HPSC public office. And they were painful to deal with because they always thought whatever little bit of information they had was of vital importance, and Karou had to drop everything to deal with them.

He didn't mind dealing with the underground heroes, especially with the new pay rate. The heroes knew they had to report, and usually thought about the information so that he got the important bits first. The informants… They didn't have that training.

This one was young. He'd heard she'd been flunked out of UA and was doing some sort of side job for the HPSC in order to prove she was hero material. He could see it but he could also see problems. The girl was invisible. All light passed through her or maybe wrapped around her. He wasn't sure. That was a fantastic ability for an underground hero. She could observe things without others knowing she was there. The problem, as Karou saw it, was that as far as he knew, she couldn't make anything else invisible, not even her clothes.

So… when she was working, she was naked. That didn't seem very safe, sanitary or… a lot of things. And because of that, there was no way she could carry the little support items many underground heroes swore by. Things like a camera, handcuffs, rope, a grappling hook, tracking devices… Each underground hero had their own preferences for what was essential, but she couldn't carry anything.

Karou could see the potential for her quirk and the potential remained all the way up until you began to think about practicality and then it disappeared. But the call to train her to be a hero was above his pay grade.

"What is it?" He managed to get out when she got close enough.

"I found him!" she practically shouted.

Karou winced. So did Waterwave. They were in a public office so Karou always made sure to speak quietly and the underground heroes appreciated that. It meant others had a harder time overhearing. It wasn't impossible for them to be overheard. In a world of quirks, it was absurdly easy but he didn't have to make it easier.

"Shh!" Karou admonished. "Who have you found?"

While he couldn't see her, he heard her take several deep breaths. "I found him," she repeated.

Karou belatedly remembered her name was Toru and while she was quieter with her second sentence, he was aware that half the office was listening in. Well, there were solutions for that. "I'm sorry Waterwave, can we complete the report later?" he asked the hero he had been speaking with.

Waterwave nodded and Karou got the impression that the report would be finished at the next scheduled check in. Great. That meant double the work then but he also sensed that Toru would not go away until she'd told him whatever it was she'd found. It was obviously important to her, but… Informants were so needy.

The underground hero got up at the same time as Karou did. He held one hand up to Toru. "Let's go to an office," Karou indicated. It wasn't so much an office as a debriefing room. One where sound wouldn't carry quite as far as it did in the open space.

"Please," she agreed, and actually sounded… It wasn't an expectant please, it was something else. Was she sick?

Karou led the way, and opened the door to a small room. The office had several small meeting spaces like this. Mostly they were used by people to take personal phone calls, but sometimes they were actually used for business.

When the door closed behind them, he turned to Toru, gesturing for her to take one of the seats. It was kind of odd to watch her clothing fold itself into the chair as he took the other seat. "Now, let's try again. Who have you found?"

"I found him," Toru repeated for the third time and this time she definitely sounded sick. "Oh god… I found him," she whispered. "I feel sick."

"You found who?" Karou asked, ignoring the last.

He got the impression she was staring at him. "Izuku," came the single name.

Karou might not always like his job but he did read the memos. And he knew that name. He was probably as well versed on the teens presumed stats and abilities as any hero. "You found-" he whispered, not bothering to sound routine. This was not routine.

"I found him," Toru said again.

When she said it, yet again, Karou shook himself. He was a professional. He took the information dispassionately. He knew it was important, but it was equally important that they get details! "Let's go over this," he said. "Start from the beginning."

Her clothes shifted to give the impression that she was staring at him incredulously, but Karou had done this before. "Shouldn't you be calling others?" she asked.

"Not yet. I get the information, then I pass it to others who can deal with it," he said.

"But, he'll get away," she cried.

What do you say to a child about this sort of thing? You couldn't say 'yes, that's true' since Karou already knew she'd just barge out and do something stupid. She might still do something stupid.

"It does us no good to simply rush to the location unprepared. That's why I need the information, so that those who respond are prepared," Karou told her. It was a repetitive sentence, but it was also the truth.

"I-"

He could hear the panic in her voice. "Take a deep breath and tell me," Karou advised. The girl was an amateur but at least she listened to advice.

"I've been searching for evidence of them," she said slowly. "To make those monsters, they need space, so I've been looking through the warehouse districts."

Karou nodded. At times like these, he knew she'd want the visual cues that he was listening, even if he could think of better ways of finding things like that. Creation of things usually took power, and so you could track power spikes on the grid to specific locations. It took some time, and dedication to actually look at the consumption figures but there was no reason one of the power companies AIs couldn't do that… and probably had…

But that cost money, and Karou knew that the informers cost nothing.

The HPSC was frugal with its use of public funding. No matter what anyone thought.

"Today I was in the port area, and-" she paused, and audibly swallowed. "I found him."

"What was happening?" Karou pressed for more information.

That seemed to steady her. Giving details usually did because it forced someone to concentrate on things they knew, rather than whatever it was they were panicking about. "He wasn't alone. There were four others with him."

"Did you recognise any of them?" Karou probed.

"Just one. She's been on the news. Her name is Himiko Toga," Toru reported to him.

"And the others?"

"I don't know them!" she objected.

"Describe them to me," Karou instructed patiently. It was best to get the details while they were fresh in her mind. It avoided the embellishment the mind added later as it rationalised events.

"There were three. One was an old man. He wore goggles. From the roof I couldn't see much more. He might have been in some sort of motorised scooter," Toru told him and from the tone of her voice, Karou knew she was surprised she'd remembered that much.

This is why they tried to get the information quickly.

"One of them was a younger man. Probably mid-twenties. He had brown hair and was wearing a blue shirt and- ugh. That's all I remember."

"That's fine. What about the last person?"

"He was huge!" came the immediate response, tinged with fear. "He towered over the others. He was at least 3 metres tall, probably more."

That was a distinguishing feature right there. Quirks meant people came in all shapes and sizes now but on height alone, the man would stand out.

"What else can you remember about the place? Do you know which warehouse it was?" Karou asked.

"I know where it is," Toru responded and the way her voice wobbled told him she was nodding vigorously as she spoke. "As for what was inside…"

"It cannot have been easy to see," Karou said gently.

"There were tubes. I couldn't really see what was in them. They were tall, and glowed a bit. The group was standing in an area that didn't have tubes, but there were two small tubes with them." Toru gulped again. "I don't know what they were doing. Himiko was at one of the small tubes and she was-"

"Take your time."

"She was cutting something, something that bled and then licking the blood."

"Himiko Toga does have a blood related quirk," Karou murmured, wracking his brain for details.

"The thing she was cutting though, looked like a child!"

Karou sighed. "That is disturbing."

"One of the other guys, the young man, didn't like that, but he didn't say anything!"

"How do you know he didn't like it?" Karou asked. That was surprisingly detailed information.

"Because he looked up at the ceiling, deliberately not watching."

"Ah," Karou nodded. That was one explanation. The man could also have sensed her.

"Then… I don't know, Izuku somehow figured out I was there," Toru said.

"What did he do?"

"I don't know. He just looked up!"

"But he couldn't see you," Karou pointed out.

"He could see me," she insisted. "So could the huge guy."

He decided not to argue. "What did you do?"

"I booked it!"

From the fear in her voice, Karou could almost see her wide eyes, even though that was impossible. "They chased me but I managed to get back to the main street before them but-" Toru's breathing was heavy as she remembered. "I don't know how they tracked me," she said.

Karou nodded. "Well, they know someone was there, but they don't know it was you," he said soothingly. "Now which warehouse was it?" He asked.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, her information had to be acted upon. And soon. Any lead on Izuku was being followed quickly, though for the most part, the public was in blissful ignorance of that. They thought the kid had gone to ground, or some of them thought he had taken all the quirks he could and was now not a threat. Karou had no idea where that rumour started… actually he did. It was probably one of the public relations department's staff, and the longer Izuku lay low, the more people would believe that rumour. If they could catch him before he did something to break the illusion, people would continue to believe that. But if they didn't…

He was aware of the danger.

The entire HPSC was aware of the danger.

"It's here," Toru said, and Karou watched as she reached inside her clothes and pulled out her phone. The screen displayed a map and Toru made a flicking motion. His tablet pinged with the information drop request. Karou accepted it and looked at the map. There was an overlay on it, with little crosses on various warehouses.

"Those are the places I searched," Toru told him. "That is the warehouse where he was," she added and Karou felt his tablet dip as she poked her finger at it. At least the screen realised she was touching it and highlighted the warehouse she had indicated.

Karou drew the tablet back and noted down the address. "What else was there?"

"The warehouse was full of stuff, but I didn't get a good look at it," she told him, sitting back in the chair. There was a catch in her voice Karou didn't recognise but he could hear her breathing deliberately through her nose.

"Okay, I'll put down that there could be hazar-" He didn't finish.

Toru made an odd noise. An acrid smell filled the small room.

Karou looked over and winced. She'd thrown up and interestingly the vomit was visible and all over her. Thankfully he wasn't one of those people who vomited if they saw others vomiting.

Ugh. She had said she was going to be sick earlier but… Internally, Karou sighed.

"Let's get you cleaned up," he said. What else could he say?

"Ug-" she said. "I'm sorry," Toru continued.

"It happens," Karou replied, moving around her to open the door. The rush of fresh air was nice and he signalled to one of the other HPSC workers that he needed a hand. Since he worked for a government department, his pay rise had to be accompanied by a rise in rank. He also liked that.

"Can you get me some paper towels? And a bin? The bin first," Karou decided.

"Thank y- Ugh," Toru said from behind him. Sensibly she was remaining still so that the vomit didn't go anywhere.

He didn't hear any further vomiting, so she'd managed to suppress that. The worker quickly brought the bin and looked a bit green themselves. Maybe they were someone who did vomit at the smell of it? Karou couldn't think about that. He passed the bin to Toru.

"Tha-" She didn't finish before vomiting again. "I still feel sick," she muttered before retching into the bin.

Someone else had seen what was happening and brought Karou a mass of paper towels. He took them gratefully, and stretched one leg out, to hook on a chair to prop the door open. "Here," he said, handing Toru one and putting the others down on the table.

She took it, or at least he released the paper when he felt her tug on it and immediately wiped her face. Kanrisha rushed up, with some wet wipes and Karou gave her a nod and a smile as she immediately took charge of Toru. "Come with me, dear, we'll get you cleaned up properly." Kanrisha was one of the administration ladies, and while cleaning wasn't in her duties, she'd at least make Toru feel better.

"Go with Kanrisha, and she'll help you," Karou told Toru. "I will take this information to those who need to hear it," he added, flourishing his tablet.

"Please," she said. It sounded desperate. "We really need to catch him," Toru added.

"I know," Karou agreed. For the good of society, Izuku had to be taken down, and the quieter, the better.

But…

He had a feeling it wasn't going to be that easy. Karou did not make operational decisions but he heard a lot from the underground heroes… And what they were saying…

Izuku already seemed to be here for the long haul. Hopefully they could catch him.

He didn't think they were that lucky.

-ted-

Actually, if there's someone in the Public Service Izuku should recruit, Karou is probably one of them. Unfortunately Izuku doesn't even know he exists, much like most of the world. Well, at least Karou got a pay rise for all his hard work. But now he knows where the warehouse is and is organising things... which will be unfortunate for Izuku. Even if he was on Izuku's side he couldn't cover it up without giving up his position. But he could possibly delay however, I think between having to organise heroes to assemble and then raid, the Doctor will have enough time to clean up. He's got enough hands to assist since Garaki can order the Nomu to help.

Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.

-ted-

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