Fish out of Water

Interview with #0043: Part 1

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"And we are recording..."

"This is agent David Foster. The date is February third, Thursday, at... 4:25 AM. I am accompanied with agent Marcus Yang-"

"The smart one who remembered to bring his camera and coffee for this investigation."

"-and agent Janet Range who will be joining us after she receives the police report for this morning's... incident."

"I also texted her to bring you and the kid a coffee when she's done."

David sighed and rubbed at his eyes and the camera moved from David to the metal table and to the young man sitting across from them.

"Please state your name for the record."

The boy was quiet, slouching back in his chair. David thought he could be asleep, but his eyes were open. The boy was just mentally a thousand miles away from there. His hair was muddy and ratted, pulled back in a ponytail. It was clear that it had been months since he had seen a hair brush. They had given him a blanket to keep him warm in the cold office, but when they had found him, he was only wearing a thin sweater, jeans that were ripped at one knee, and sneakers. Last weekend was considered the coldest their city had seen in three years. It concerned the agents how he was able to survive this far.

"Maybe we should do this later," Marcus said from behind the camera.

"If he was awake enough to stop a bank robbery at three AM, then he is awake enough to talk with us."

"Shoto Todoroki."

His voice was weak. Everything about the boy was weak and sickly. Janet was right, they needed to wrap this case up quickly and get this boy the medical help he needed. No matter what the rules say, he was still a child.

"Hello Shoto... or do you go by Todoroki?"

The boy only shrugged. The homeless man they talked to earlier called him Tony. The other homeless individuals they spoke with the past month in their investigation dropped many names for the mysterious teenager who could make ice and fire from his fingers. This did make it difficult to do their job, but patience ended up being the key to this investigation.

"How about I call you Todoroki for now."

He shrugged again.

"How old are you, Todoroki?"

"Sixteen."

"Nationality?"

"Japanese."

This made Marcus snort behind the camera. The boy looked Caucasian and had heterochromia eyes, something that wasn't natural to a normal Japanese citizen. Frankly everything about the boy wasn't natural. His hair may have been crusty with dried mud, but it was probably the only way he could think to hide his strange colored hair. Through the mud one could see strands of snow white and red if they focused close enough. He also had a burn mark over his left eye. This boy had gone through so much at such a young age.

"How long have you been on the streets?"

"I don't know. A year... probably."

"How long have you been in this world?"

In that moment, the boy's look came back to them. He blinked a few times and slowly looked up to David and over to Marcus.

"Y...you know that I'm not from here?"

Marcus smiled, "boy, you should know by now that super powers don't exist in this world."

David swatted at the man to be quiet. The boy's eyes grew big as he stared at the two. Something sparked inside him, it was clear from the atmosphere in the room. He had hope that he desperately needed. Maybe Janet should have done this interview instead of the two of them.

"Who are you guys?"

Maybe it was easier to explain what they weren't. David was not sure if the boy would understand, so he tried to keep things short. He described how they were part of the FBI sent to investigate and find everything created by the underground group called "Form".

"Twelve years ago, a devise was created to look into other dimensions. Though, soon after it was announced to the public, the blueprints for the devise were stolen. Years later, there had been strange machines popping up on the black market, some marketed to writers to help "connect" to their characters and speak with them."

Marcus scratched at his head and gave a sigh, "You wouldn't believe how many people thought that this was thanks to magic or mysticism. In reality it was just science and very powerful computer. That, and a whole lot of luck to find a similar universe to that housed a person the manuscript had listed."

"The devise though was only supposed to connect like a video chat or hologram of the character, but under the right... and rare circumstances..."

The boy looked down to his hands. He had cuts on his fingers and dirt under his nails from many days of digging through garbage and scavenging for food. David could not even imagine just how much he had gone through.

"How many more are out there like me? Are any of my friends-"

David and Marcus's looks gave away the answer. The boy dropped his hands into his lap and leaned back onto the chair, his hopeful look was instantly taken away.

"There are others out there from other media, but so far you are the only one we found from a comic book."

"And one to have an awesome super power like we saw this morning," Marcus pulled out his smart phone and opened a picture of what was once the get-away car of the robbers. It was covered in a wall of ice as high as a three-story tall building. The boy gave a little smile, it clearly made him proud to have been the hero. His smile quickly was brought back to a serious look. He asked the two what was going to happen to him.

"We have this room for another half hour," David said with a soft look, "if you feel up to it, could you tell us what happened to you this past year?"

The boy was quiet again. He didn't have much else to lose and the men were the only ones in the world who would understand his story.

"Alright... it started about a year ago..."