Obscured

Chapter Seven: Persona

Shoto stood in front of the one-way mirror listening to the one-sided conversation on the other end. His arms were crossed and a permanent scowl marred his lips. He'd been standing in that same spot for over an hour and yet nothing had changed. Izuku was still missing and it was his fault. He kept going over the incident again and again in his head. If he had just been quicker, if he had just been paying a little closer attention, then everything would've been fine.

He hadn't left the station in over twelve hours, half the day. He needed answers and aimlessly wandering around wasn't going to provide those answers. The man he brought in, the one currently sitting in the interrogation room, was the only solid lead they had at the moment. Despite endless hours of questioning, that man still had the audacity to keep quiet.

Inside the room, Tsukauchi sat straight and rigid, staring at the criminal who was cuffed securely to the chair. They'd been there, sitting in silence for too long. The man, Tanabe Sumiteru, was annoyingly stubborn. He didn't react to anything Tsukauchi said, not even a twitch. The only thing he did was stare at the clock on the wall, ignoring everything and everyone else.

Mr. Sumiteru," Tsukauchi said once again, a haggard weariness to his voice. "The longer you stay silent, the longer you stay in here. I can help you, I want to help, you just have to talk to me."

Sumiteru showed no signs of listening. It was as if he'd been turned into a statue. The only thing that proved he was still human was the slow cracking of his rubbery skin. His mutant-type quirk gave him the features and abilities of a dolphin. The problem; it also gave him the weaknesses of one. I.E. water-dependent. He was quickly becoming dehydrated, but he didn't seem to care in the slightest.

Tsukauchi sighed and sifted through the stack of files scattered on the table between them. Nothing was working with this guy. The longer he stayed silent, the longer the investigation would drag on, and the longer it would be until they found Izuku. They would find him, they had to, but what worried him was the state he would find him. A dark part of his mind kept going to the worst-case scenarios, something he dreaded.

That man had a lot of enemies, ones that wouldn't hesitate to kill him. The only thing that gave him hope was the way in which he was taken. All the weapons were distinctly non-lethal. That's what you told Tsukauchi when you had first woken up in the hospital. They wanted him alive; for what, no one was sure. Well, except for the mercenary sitting in front of him.

"You're going to prison, Mr. Sumiteru." He looked back up at him. "That stunt you pulled on the bridge hurt innocent civilians and put many more at risk. That's an act of terrorism. Why did you do it?"

Sumiteru finally looked away from the clock, a slow grin spread across his face. "Time's running out detective." His voice was dry and crackly, but he sounded amused.

Those were the first words he'd spoken in over half a day.

"For who?" Deku?" He narrowed his eyes. "What are you planning?"

He leaned back in his chair, messing with his cuffed hands nonchalantly. "Police, just as useless as the heroes, I see." He chuckled. "Oh, I wish I could see your face when you figure it out."

He looked past Tsukauchi, through the mirror, right at Shoto. It was unnerving, to say the least. Shoto clenched his jaw, trying to decipher what Sumiteru meant. Tsukauchi continued to question him, but Sumiteru had said his piece and went back to staring at the clock.

"You're gonna break your teeth if you keep that up." Momo walked up beside him.

Shoto didn't take his eyes off Sumiteru. "He's toying with us."