Mind Boggled

Chapter 27

Third person pov

Harper and Kirishima landed atop Tsukauchi's cruiser with a firm thump that sent the vehicle wailing, still holding onto each other for dear life as the car's alarm blared from below them. Tsukauchi and Sansa both whirled around at the sudden sound, the former of which with his phone up to his ear. Their eyes were wide with surprise, and Harper and Kirishima both could do nothing but mirror their expressions while dumbly holding one another as though they were still plummeting through a void of Kurogiri's making. For a moment, they were all silent. Harper couldn't blame the two officers. It was a lot to process.

Harper's mind was racing, wondering if an ambulance would make it to the three boys they'd left in the alley. It had only been a few hours since Kurogiri took her. Kirishima's heart was pounding wildly from the rush of things they'd just gone through, thoughts stumbling over Stain, and the fact that they very well could have been near death just now if not for Kurogiri's actions. It was terrifying for him to realize he'd probably only lived because someone he'd only known as a villain up until this point had saved him.

"...I need a beer." Sansa voiced after a few seconds of opening and closing his mouth like a dying fish. "This is too much. I'm going to have a heart attack and the ripe, old age of thirty-five. She was gone for over an hour. We thought she was dead. Where did she even fall from?! And who's the redhead?"

"Harper! You're alive!" Tsukauchi sputtered, almost dropping his phone in his surprise. Harper could see the stress lines on his face, and his eyes were red rimmed. So he'd either cried, rubbed them a lot, or done some sort of marijuana. Maybe crack, but he wasn't fidgeting enough for that. "Holy shit. She's okay. And she's with one of her classmates. Well, wait, okay is a strong word. She looks as though she's in shock. And where exactly did she fall from?"

Harper opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off when the phone call to Dumbass #3 finally patched through. The sleep-riddled voice of none other than Toshinori Yagi emanated from the speaker, implying heavily that he'd probably slept through all the abrupt news reports pertaining to Hosu and its destruction. Wonderful. "Harper? Is everything alright?" The man asked. Harper brought the phone up to her ear, blinking away the dumbfounded feeling that came along with unexpectedly falling. Next to Tsukauchi, Sansa quietly reached into the detective's pocket and retrieved his car keys. The alarm shut off mid cry.

Her life was entirely out of whack. She was on the phone with All Might, was holding Kirishima, who was holding her right back while trying not to hyperventilate over all that had happened, she had a fake dad who was a detective, and his partner was another officer who had a cat head. It all had her head spinning and scrambling to catch up. The migraine that had formed behind her eyes certainly wasn't doing much to help things.

"Oh. Everything's just peachy; thanks for asking." Harper's tone was so heavy with sarcasm that she could almost hear the Number One Hero flinch. "Get your red, white, and blue ass out of bed and check the news. I just rode a roller coaster of bullshit I did not choose to get on of my own free will, I smell like a middle-aged smoker who's been taking out two boxes a day since high-school, and Sansa is going to spiral back into his alcoholic tendencies if things don't start making sense soon."

"Wha-" Toshinori started, but she cut him off. Kirishima stifled his snicker, an arm still wrapped around her. Harper wondered how long it would take him to notice how close they were, and promptly freak out over it. Right now he was awing over her phone call and trying his best not to laugh. Admirable. Were she in his shoes, she would have lost her shit without an ounce of shame.

"Oh, and my dad's blood pressure is slowly rising, so I'd pick up the pace. I can hear the years dropping off his lifespan." Harper pulled an arm away from Kirishima so she could massage her temples and turn off her headband. The redhead yelped in surprise, eyes going comically wide. "Just... hurry the hell up before Endeavor notices Sansa has a cat head, please. That's the last thing I need today."