Mind Boggled

Chapter 44

Third person pov

The police precinct was absolutely freezing, and Harper wasn't living for it. Meeting Kirishima mother's had gone well and left her feeling relatively satisfied. It was probably he most positive social interaction she'd had with someone else's parents in a long, long time. It left her feeling rather refreshed all things considered. She'd needed a win, and a win was what she'd gotten. Now it was time to deal with Sero and hope he didn't choke her out in any possible bouts of rage.

What they'd found was definitely concerning. She was almost positive that the cabinet she'd found was the box. It made sense. Now, she'd talk to the man who'd assessed Sero and see if anyone had used a quirk to tamper with his memory. Harper was almost positive now that someone had. There wasn't another good explanation as to why there were so many holes in his memory. When something traumatic happened, it either tended to stick or to not. She'd never seen the story change completely into something that was quite possibly worse than what originally happened. It just... it didn't make any sense whatsoever. 

"Let's get this over with. I have shit to do." Harper grumbled, as she usually did when she had shit to do. Go figure. Tsukauchi patted her shoulder and gave it a firm squeeze, offering her a reassuring half smile that truly didn't reassure her in the least. Kurogiri was holding her hand and bouncing in place. Though Harper was essentially the only one to talk to Sero, everyone was eager to find out just what was going on with him. 

This whole situation was concerning. It had been concerning since day one, but now it seemed to be reaching its peak. Never in her life would Harper assume she'd find herself dealing with a scenario that involved not-so-dead sisters struck mute by mysterious villains who dug a hole in a child's house under a cabinet to intimidate and traumatize them. Why go to the effort? Why choose Sero specifically? Things were coming together, but not clearly enough to give Harper the full picture. A lot of pieces were missing, and she wasn't confident she'd find them all.

First, she tromped towards where Dabi and Shoto had been for hours. They'd been left in there far, far longer than Harper had intended, and she could only hope they were both still in one piece respectively. If either were in ash, she'd have hell the pay. The Chief was already on the edge with the favor she'd pulled with Stain. He'd never been particularly fond of Dabi, but Harper did too much for him to say no to much of anything she did anymore. He actually seemed to be a little afraid of her. It was a mixture of sad and amusing in her eyes. Sansa thought it was hilarious. Tsukauchi secretly did too, but would rather die than say so out loud.

The entire office smelt like smoke, and all the windows were open. It definitely wasn't promising, and it made her scowl all the more. Her quirk reached out almost unconsciously in search of Dabi or Shoto. Preferably both, but she was beginning to assume one of them had died. Probably Dabi, because he would rather keel over than lay a hand on his younger brother. Harper could respect that, and maybe even admire it a bit. It occurred to her that there were a lot of people she'd willingly die for nowadays. Not that she needed to be tempted much to put herself in harm's way, apparently. Getting kidnapped even just once was enough, but she had long since blown past that checkpoint.

"Keys." Harper demanded the terrified looking newbie waiting outside the door. There had probably been some sort of disturbance, but no one was willing to disobey her sticky note and check in. She was glad, because Dabi may have run. Of course, Shoto would've chased him, but that was besides the point. Dabi was a wuss at heart, and Harper knew that better than anyone.

"R-Right!" The man fumbled with them, almost dropping them in the process. "Holy shit, she's terrifying. Like actually terrifying. How can a teenager be so terrifying?! She's like, fifteen. Chill. You're... you're an adult. An adult that's being glared at by a very annoyed individual who has the Chief of Police in her corner. It's fine. It's not like she could get me fired or anything! Hah... hahahah please have mercy on me."