Black Fox (Vigilante Deku AU)

Part 35-Crow Man is a Jerk

Deku POV

After the next meeting with Night Tiger, we finalized the internship contract for if I passed their inspection. Of course, this wasn't without reading all the fine print three times and getting second and third opinions from the twins beforehand.

The next evening was my first day working with a professional hero. It was simple- I'd shadow him for a night and, the next few nights, he'd shadow me and decide where to go from there with the internship.

The hero's name was Nevermore(awfully pretentious, but it fit with the theme of the whole agency, which essentially seemed to be built around pretentiousness) and his quirk was to summon and control ghostly flocks of ravens and crows alike.

The shadowing nights went well. Nothing we encountered was particularly difficult, but the hero seemed to be full of nothing but criticism. It took all my willpower not to snap at him, punch him, or both.

When I received news of the next steps in the internship, however, he seemed like he had been observing a totally different person. The report of my skill set held nothing but praise for my "quick thinking, efficient use of time, space, and energy, and incredible defensive and offensive skills alike."

The rest of the report was more in-depth about my skill set and abilities(but wasn't really in-depth at all, there was no way he had seen everything I could do in just three nights of relatively quiet activity) and about where he suggested we go from here.

In the end, the head of the agency decided that he would pull some strings and help me get my hands on a provisional license early.

"It would make my life a lot easier if you would stop getting shot so often," he remarked at the end.

I bit my tongue to hold back a sharp reply.

He chuckled. "Come on now, you're already well-known for your sharp tongue and quick comebacks. Go ahead and say what you like, our agency doesn't punish honest opinions, good or bad, and the majority of us-" a glance at Nevermore- "appreciate good humor and quick wits."

"It would make my life a lot easier too," I finally snapped, "But some of us don't exactly get the choice. What am I supposed to do, walk into a fight and say, 'By the way, please don't shoot me, my temporary boss would like me to not miss more meetings'? Yeah, that'll definitely work. Besides, it was only twice, and one of them didn't even affect your meetings at all."

His chuckle turned into a boisterous laugh. "That's the spirit. No need for such sharp wits to go to waste for the sake of politeness, hm?"

I shrugged and gathered up the papers I would need to take with me. "So, which of these are actually important and which have essentially no purpose?"

"Oh, n-none of them have many purposes, really, not to us. It's all legal mumbo-jumbo, stuff required by the government," The secretary, a young woman named Molly with the ears and tail of a calico cat, replied. "I can give you a quick once-over of them all if you'd like."

"It's fine. It's not like I do much in class anyway, though paperwork won't be any more fun."

She giggled. "Yes, it really is tedious, hm? Well, I can get rid of the ones that aren't necessary right now if you'd like."

I groaned. "Ugh, yes, please. The only thing worse than suffocating fans is suffocating paperwork."

"Truer words have never been spoken. I used to be a more p-public hero, the fans were terrible." I handed her the stack and she began sifting through it, pulling out and setting aside multiple forms.

"Might have been the tail, some people go crazy over that cutesy stuff."

Nevermore spoke up. "Your lack of professionalism is...off-putting."