There's something oddly anomalous about waking up in the backseat of a squad car. Izuku found this even more odd at the realization that the vehicle was one issued to his own precinct.
He had been thrown in the car haphazardly and his neck was starting to feel the repercussions. It didn't hurt or anything, it was just a mild discomfort. What really pained him was the pounding of his skull. The headache was hardly half of what it was directly after quirk use, but he still wasn't at a hundred percent. If anything he just felt hung over, not that he would know what that felt like.
As things started to clear, he could finally define his situation. Sure enough, the woman he had bumped into was now driving the vehicle. Izuku's messenger bag was confiscated and placed in the passenger seat next to her.
Apparently, she had thought him a threat, handcuffs had been placed albeit too tight around his wrists. Even with Izuku's knowledge of escapism, there was no way he was getting out of these right now.
Though, he mustn't have been that big of a concern, he could still feel the pressure of his pocket knife. If he was anyone else, it would be quite the foolish mistake.
How was he going to explain this one to Naomasa? His own intern, arrested, laughable really.
Weighing his odds, Izuku cleared his throat. The officer glanced at the rear view mirror, an unpleasant expression on her face. Luckily, or at least lucky to Izuku, she took the bait.
"Seems sleeping beauty finally woke up, you have some balls running into an officer after robbing that store."
Oh, that made a bit more sense. Izuku had originally assumed that he was being held for assault or similar. His assumption had been based on a stretch though, nothing he'd done in her presence was illegal. Again, minus the pocket knife.
"Mam, there seems to be a misunderstanding here, I'm not the person you were looking for." Her expression managed to only sower, "I've heard it all toots, you're not sweet talking your way out of this one."
Fair enough, she's probably had her fair share of cons. However, even the most stubborn of people can be persuaded, usually.
"I honestly hate having to mention this, but I'm currently interning under one of your precinct's officers. If you give me the chance I can clear up this misnomer." She laughed, she had the audacity to laugh at him. It was bad enough that Izuku thought she might swerve off the road.
"You, you're the intern, what a hunk of bogus." Before Izuku could respond she picked back up, "I'll tell you what, that's gotta be the best one I've heard in a while." She fixed the rear view mirror away from Izuku and at last she was focused on the road again. "Why don't you just can the fibs and we can fill out an actual report when we get to the station, ok?"
That worked out just peachy.
If he bugged her anymore, she would probably flip her lid. Izuku was never a fan of overly stubbornness, at least not when he was trying to negotiate with them. In some cases he did admire it, but those were slim to none.
The officer had taken a path Izuku wasn't entirely used to. He could only remember a few of the buildings they passed by. If he was correct- which he usually was- they were but a few minutes away from the precinct. At least he wouldn't keep Naomasa waiting.
After further inspection, It was precisely three minutes and seventeen seconds before they reached their destination, but who's counting.
It couldn't have been a second earlier and Izuku knows this for a fact. The door he was resting his arm on had been brutally yanked open upon arrival. If he had been any less competent, his face would have met the pavement.
A hand quickly grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him out of the vehicle. His shoes briefly scraped, in any other situation he would have cringed. It just seems so ridiculous, really.
"Walk faster short man, I don't get paid by the hour." Actually, she did get paid by the hour. Getting paid per arrest hadn't been legal for well over a century. However, Izuku would let her have her snide comments.
He obliged and quickened his pace, only to be sat down in one of the dark brown chairs. Surprisingly, Izuku had never really used these chairs more than once. He always preferred to wait for Naomasa by the detective's desk. He might actually regret that now, It may have been due to the car ride over, but they seemed relatively comfortable. Much better than the chairs that had been wasting away at the desk long before Naomasa joined.
The officer that had been escorting him came back a moment later; this time with a set of keys dangling from her hand. There was a small label at the base of the key, but Izuku didn't have the eyesight for that.
The keys turned out to be the keys to the interrogation room. Izuku had never really been in one, only seeing it from the other side of the double sided glass. He would have preferred to see the inside under different circumstances. However, he'd take what he could get.
There was no doubt that Naomasa would have covered their interrogation process with him, but that was provided he asked. Izuku hadn't been at the internship for more than two weeks. Until he was confident in where he landed, he wanted to just let Naomasa cover what he wanted to.
Unsurprisingly, these chairs were far less pleasant. Heck, he'd take the rotting walnut over these. It made sense though, from an interrogation aspect. Make the suspect uncomfortable and more Illini to answer questions to get out of the situation. That or it was just budget cuts and Izuku was giving the chief too much credit.
The officer put her hands on the table with a thump. Apparently, she was going for the classic intimidation factor. Izuku's professors had told him that the technique was wildly ineffective, shutting down the suspect instead of obtaining information.
"Greeny, who the hell are you?" Her voice was harsh, harsher than it was earlier at least.
Izuku was taken back for a second, greeny was a new one. His hair had darkened over the past few years, only leaving some highlights of color.
"I already to-" before he could finish, she slapped her hand against the table.
"Don't give me that intern BS."
Unvalentairly, one of his eyebrows raised. At this rate, he might be better off fabricating some story. On second thought, that wouldn't end too well.
He gave the officer another look over, this time he could see her badge. Her name was Kaneshiro Kyou. Which didn't give him much to work with, but maybe he could throw her off for a second to get a full sentence out.
"Kyou" her eyes shifted ever so slightly and Izuku carried on, "If you could bring in detective Tsukauchi, I'm sure this could all be cleared up." She drummed her fingers against the table, the proposal lingering in the air.
Without a word, she left the room, locking Izuku in.
Besides that fact that Izuku was appalled at the amount of times she left him alone, he couldn't help but find the handcuffs were starting to hurt. They had started out a bit tight, now they were picking a fight with his circulation.
If his hands hadn't been placed behind his back, this would have been a much easier task. Grabbing his pocket knife was a task in itself, but figuring out a way to use it was much worse.
The cuffs this precinct used had one fatal flaw, provided one knew how to exploit it. They possessed a small reset button, like most standard locks.
Izuku had managed to stick his knife between the corner of the table and the wall. Carefully, he stood over it with the cuffs above the blade. The button was on the outside of the right wrist at the base connecting to the chain. It wasn't a spot he had much control over.
He'd never actually done anything like this before, but there was a first time for everything.
He held in a cringe as the blade scratched against the metal. Izuku slowly felt out the lactation until the blade hit an indent. Taking his chances, he put more pressure on the blade grinning when he felt a click. Yanking his wrists in the opposite directions the right clamp unhooked, letting his hand free and allowing for him to undo the other clamp. This time it was much easier and much safer. It was wonderful how much easier things were when you could actually see what you are doing.
After a brief mental debate, Izuku pocketed his knife and reattached the handcuffs. He left them just loose enough his hands could pop out of them if he needed to do so.
Having her walk in and see him without the cuffs wouldn't be the best thing. She'd probably flip out before he could explain anything. Plus, explaining why he could get out of things was never fun.
When he heard footsteps Izuku sat back down. The steps were of two people, one was Kyou's shorter stride and the other light on the heel ending with a heavy hit of the toe. Izuku couldn't help but breathe out a sigh of relief, she had actually followed through with his request.
"I don't see why you won't just tell me what this is about. I have other, more important, things I need to do." Yup, definitely Naomasa.
"Oh please, you and Sansa were just staring at your phone."
Naomasa humfed, exasperation being all too familiar. "Like I said, more important things."
Naomasa awkwardly tried to open the door with his left hand. The man barely caught himself when the corner slammed into his ankle. His eyes squeezed shut as he hissed. Izuku could have sworn he muttered something about stabbing the door.
Not even batting an eye, Kyou walked into the room taking her seat from earlier. Apparently she was going to demonstrate the definition of insanity and did the exact same thing as the first time. Her hand slamming down on the table albeit harder now.
Izuku sat un phased, it didn't do much anymore. If anything, it just gets on your nerves.
Contrary to this, Naomasa practically jumped. A less than competent, strangled noise escaped along with.
"Right, I got him, spit it out." Her teeth were grinding something fierce.
Izuku briefly met her gaze only to shift to Naomasa. Recovering from earlier, he locked eyes with Izuku. Or at least he did before vigorously rubbing his eye, doing a double take.
"Kid?" Ensuring that he was not hallucinating, Izuku gave him a nod.
"Sir, I do apologize for my tardiness. However, this scenario is a tad above my pay grade, or lack thereof."
It didn't take long for Kyou to relay her side of the story and for Naomasa to explain that Izuku was in fact his intern. Some paperwork that Izuku couldn't identify was passed between them along with a thousand yen note. Eventually, Kyou left and Naomasa moved the chair to the side of the table rather than directly across from Izuku.
The detective sheepishly ran a hand through his hair, his fedora must have been left on the desk. "Sorry about her, she gets a bit uppity sometimes." Izuku narrowed his eyes slightly and Naomasa laughed, "ok, maybe a bit more than sometimes."
Izuku slipped his hands out of the cuffs and placed them on the table. "You might want to see about changing brands." He absently muttered, Naomasa took the handcuffs and briefly looked over the new scratch marks. Izuku definitely had a point.
Shifting his gaze, Naomasa looked over Izuku another time. There was a bruise forming on the side of his cheek along with a few scrapes, but that wasn't what worried him. It was the smoked bits of the dress shirt. His blazer was relatively clean, just a few dirt marks. Yet, that shirt. The undoubtedly burn marks only reached over. It was definitely worse under the coat.
Izuku smiled slightly, it looked closer to a grimace than he would like, "it looks worse than it is. I got caught up on the way over, but Kyou told you that"
In his short time with Izuku, Naomasa had certainly noticed a few things that stood out. How he never mentioned his quirk, his use of sarcasm to keep people away, his outdated terms- not that Naomasa was one to talk. Amongst everything, the biggest one was that the kid never lied to him.
Sure, if anyone knew of the whole lie detector thing, they might think lying was pointless. Yet, even Sansa would still try to pull a fast one on him sometimes. Heck, it was his sister's favorite pastime to set his quirk off.
Though, if Naomasa was honest he would almost prefer it if Izuku lied. The kid was great at covering things over with a half truth or just being vague. It made things so much harder.
Plus, Izuku wasn't exactly doing a good job at hiding the pain in his shoulder. He was shifted in his seat, preventing his shoulder from touching the backing.
"There's a difference between scrapes from some sludge and literal burns."
Izuku suddenly found his shoes to be incredibly interesting. He really should clean them when he gets home.
"Kid, look at me." His voice was too soft for Izuku's liking, he hesitantly lifted his eyes.
" I won't be upset if you don't want to tell me. I don't need to know how you were injured; just let me help you." Something flashed across his features that Izuku couldn't recognize.
Words were tangled in Izuku's throat, a nod was all he could manage. This was more than enough for Naomasa.
Izuku shrugged off the right sleeve of his coat, he attempted the other only to fail. Naomasa quickly stepped in and eased the rest of the jacket off, suppressing a wince.
The burn certainly looked to be in the second degree range. Something naomasa was both thankful for and resented. The majority of the damage was along where the collar bone connected to the end of the shoulder. The burn stayed mostly in primarily bone sections, there would be no muscle damage.
Izuku was right in a way, the burns themselves weren't too bad. Sure, Naomasa had seen people take days off due to lesser injuries than these, but the burns weren't deep. The more worrisome aspect was the fabric embedded into it. Usually, the fabric would have burned away before it had the chance to do so. However, if the burn was instantaneous the fabric wouldn't have had the chance to burn away.
Naomasa left for only a moment before returning with some isopropyl alcohol and bandages.
"This might hurt a bit," Izuku had to bite back a laugh. There was no might, there was never any might. It was just painful, always was and always will.
The fabric was gently- or as gently as possible- worked out of the wound. Bandages replaced the pathetic protection his blazer had provided. It would scar, they both knew that, but Naomasa was probably more bothered over it.
When he was done Naomasa sank back into the chair. "What do you think happened to that sludge guy?" That was definitely a change of topic Izuku would note, but I wasn't like he wasn't thankful for it.
"He's in my bag."
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