Worthless No More: A Quirkless Not Worthless AU

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: This has been inspired by Quirkless Unbound by Shadowhuntress and Zyla_SweetBean on Archive Of Our Own. I strongly recommend you read that before reading this. Some scenes and dialogue will be the same, but will take place mainly from OC's perspective. This is to answer the What If..? question: "What if Maddie and Tenko were childhood friends?" A few minor plot points will also be changed. MHA belongs to Kohei Horikoshi.

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Maddie had never been to prison before. When she was younger, she made it a point to herself to never do anything that could get her in trouble with the law. She would not give in to peer pressure. Her past self would be appalled that she somehow managed to land herself in jail. But once she knew why, she would've understood. She didn't regret what she did, despite knowing that everyone would tell her that she should.

It was kind of surreal, them taking her fingerprints and her mugshot. Like this was a mafia gang movie or something. Before she knew it, she was seated in an interrogation room, Quirk-suppressant cuffs locking her hands behind her back in the chair. Experimentally, she twisted around in them, finding no leeway, like she expected. At least it was better than a straitjacket.

Suddenly, the door opened, revealing a weedy man walking through the opening. Presumedly a detective or some other kind of officer, he looked like he was trying to make himself scary, but his thin limbs didn't do him justice. Maddie regarded him levelly, indifferently. She prepared herself for the lecture she was no doubt going to get.

The officer plopped himself directly in the chair across from her. "I hope you don't mind us taking the liberty to go through your files, Madeleine," he said, tossing a manila folder with a substantial number of documents inside. "Thought it would take longer to get them from the U.S. government, but since this is an international issue, they were quite generous."

Maddie snorted condescendingly. Honestly, she shouldn't have been surprised. "Figures," she answered, not giving the officer anything more than that. He didn't seem perturbed by that, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms. "It's funny, really," he continued. "You were previously registered as Quirkless in both the Japanese and American database, but in America you were qualified for their Assisted Living program." He tapped his fingers against his arms. "Fifteen years later, you were presumed dead." He raised an eyebrow. "Is that around the time you developed your Quirk?"

Maddie shrugged as best as she could with her restraints. "Guess I was just a late bloomer," she replied with a sickly-sweet smile, one that spelled that she was trouble. The officer nearly grunted, leaning forward again to grasp the manila folder, flipping it over. "In any case," he continued, "this is your first international offense. Though it's not surprising considering all the trouble you caused in school while you were Quirkless." Maddie's face settled into a scowl, but she remained silent. After not getting a reaction, the officer flipped through more documents. "Since this is also your first time travelling overseas, perhaps we could reach an impasse. You might not be familiar with the Quirkless laws here in Japan, so you might've just been confused. Thus, we could reduce the charge of attempted kidnapping of a Quirkless-"

"Saving him," Maddie cut off, quite rudely. The officer didn't seem irked by it though, or at least, he hid it well. "What was that?" he inquired, meeting her eyes again. She held his stare, standing her ground. "I was trying to save that boy."

They had a small staring contest for a moment before the officer spoke again. "I see," he said, slapping the folder shut. "You want to play this game the hard way, then." He leaned on the table with his elbows, mouth hidden behind his folded hands. "What was the motive for you stealing a Quirkless? Planning on selling him off?"