Time in a Tree (All Might x Reader)

Welcome Back

That was painless enough. You sat in your car staring at the flash drive pinched between your thumb and forefinger, beyond ready to read every damn word. Your eyes trailed to the bag of your things sitting in the passenger seat. Maybe not on the work computer. You sighed. Definitely not on the work computer. Pulling out of the parking space you held hostage, you navigated yourself to the nearest department store.

Back home, you pondered whether the laptop you just bought would be pulled from your paycheck for only a few moments. Not having thought twice when you swiped that pretty little card. You shrugged it off, setting up your profile as you sat on your bed.

Legs propped up almost uncomfortably as you began your research. Within your reading, you began to sort the cases more in depth than just the month of passing. Heroes or civilians. Click and drag. Weapon used, if there was one. From what you were seeing, some victims didn't make it past the injection. Some of them were poisoned. Homicides ranged from stabbing to strangulation to blunt force trauma.

Click and drag.

You sorted by age and by prefecture. Emitter, mutant, and transformation quirks. Folders became more complex and would most definitely confuse anyone who didn't already know what you were getting yourself into.

You sighed hard, scratching your scalp out of frustration. There's nothing. How the hell is there nothing? How? Your eyes darted over all the work you'd already done, search for some hint or idea hidden in plain sight. "I-" You puffed again. "Maybe if I check birthplaces...." You ran through them all again, even going as far as searching for their social media profiles. Pulling alma maters and jobs, anything you could get your hands on.

"There's no way..." You shook your head, it didn't make sense. How could the only thing in common be the makeup of that damn concoction? Even that varied in some cases. Same ingredients but the amounts would occasionally differ. Your brows furrowed in frustration as you continued reading and rereading over what you'd done thus far. Hours seemed wasted as everything you'd figured led you to a dead end. What am I missing...what if I.

You went back in, thinking maybe those mystery movies were on to something. If you pulled the coordinates from each location of death, it would tell you something, make an image...anything.

But it gave nothing.

Homes? Maybe their addresses.

Nothing again.

"This is bullshit!" You rubbed at your drying eyes, staring at the screen for so long was finally taking a toll. "I've got to be thinking about this too hard. There has to be-" A phone call interrupted your thoughts, without looking, you reached for the device and answered. "Hello?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Sternly, came your mother's voice.

"I don't like your tone, ma'am." You inhaled sharply.

"Fuck a tone. What are you doing?"

"I'm working."

"On what?"

"On work?" You let out a nervous chuckle.

"Didn't look like work to me."

"Are you spying on me?" You sniffed, saving the changes you made to the files and removing the flash drive.

"I'm not spying, your brother asked about you." She explained.

"What a snitch." You sucked your teeth.

"How's he a sni- don't change the subject. How'd you get a hold of that information?" Her tone held firm, demanding you stay on topic. "I'm working at the towers again." You gave those tired eyes another rub, ending with a light pinch on the bridge of your nose. "That...that doesn't seem like something you'd be able to find in the claims department." She said with some concern.