Izuku shut the door.

"Ah, perfect timing."

Izuku flinched, then saw it was just an officer.

"The chief wants to talk to you. Here, you get one of these now." He handed him a key card.

"Thank you. I'll go see what's up."

The chief was standing in front of a one-sided window, staring at Grape through it. She sat at a table inside, completely still except for the obvious movements of her breathing. She was strapped to the chair.

"Deku, there you are. Thank you for stopping by. We've run into an issue already. She tried to escape, and now she refuses to speak. Do you think you could try talking to her? You seem to have a knack at getting folks to speak."

"My mom always said that too. I guess I can try."

"You can use the key card you got to enter. The door's over there."

Izuku scanned the card and the door unlocked. He entered. Grape looked at him when he came closer.

"I hope you're here to apologize," she snapped.

Izuku sat down on the seat on the other end of the table. "Hello." He waved.

She blinked at him, the eyelashes on her mask not moving with her eyelids. "Are you trying to patronize me?"

"I think we got off on the wrong foot yesterday. My name is Izuku Midoriya, my hero name is Deku. Since I'm sure we'll be talking to each other a lot-"

"AHAHA! Why would I talk to a scrawny little rodent like you? You must have some high confidence to speak to me as if we're friends! I have always been told to never make friends, and it seems like that's correct. What do you plan to do, trick me? Trap me again? Go ahead, I'm patient; I can wait for you to tell me what's going on."

"Huh? Madame Grape, you're a villain, and we stopped you. Isn't that how the system works?"

"Villain? Hmph. You know nothing. This world is not 'good' and 'evil,' it is those who win or lose. Those who win are served life on a silver platter, with crowns made of gold and thrones that cover the rest of us with an unforgiving light that can only be avoided by becoming one of them. Those who lose are stuck, trapped by the wall the winners put up to keep us out. We resort to crimes in order to scrape by, as the winners drain us all of our precious resources and lives. Unfortunately for us, my Sour Bunch and I are trapped in that lower class, stealing in order to satisfy ourselves with more than just vivid dreams of what the life of a winner could be."

"What the he/ does that mean?!"

She sighed. "We're thieves, Deku. Try and keep up next time, hm? Well, they're the innocent ones. I did try to bring a tragedy. But even that curtain must close. Our budget and time ran short, and Peach stood in my way."

"Peach?"

"Yes. She stopped me back in Sparkle Theater. She seems annoying, but she did entertain the masses. Perhaps I could find a way to get her to work for me...That would surely bring forth my dream."

"Do you like theater or something? You keep mentioning it and saying theater-like stuff."

She nodded once. "Tragedy, actually. I've always been drawn to it."

Izuku glanced to the one-way window awkwardly.

Grape looked that way as well, then back to Izuku. "We're being watched, aren't we?"

"T-!"

"I should have guessed. There was no way they were going to leave me in here alone, and with you no less. Tell me, Izuku, why did you capture me? Hide nothing, I can tell when you lie."

"I was asked to do it, so they could learn more about you and your Quirk I guess. Also, you're marked as a pretty high treat to Hosu right now, since they don't know anything about you."

She chuckled. "Great, they fear me. So you're the hero, coming to give them hope, a reason for living, correct? What do you think will happen when I undo this binding?"

"You're going to escape?"

"Close, I'm actually going to end your life. That will destroy their hope, their dreams, and bring forth my perfect tragedy. Peach stopped me before, but she isn't here now, is she? And nobody in this world can stop me, so why would I consent to your wishes?"

"Because you're tied to the chair?"

She removed one of her hands. "Are you certain? I did just say I was going to undo the binding, and admitted to being a thief, so I have a few cards up my sleeve for you to try and figure out before I can fully escape this. Go on, keep talking. Convince me to not hurt you."

"Uh...Are you nice or are you just trying to stall?"

"Perhaps both. But I quite like the conversation we were having before, so why don't we go back to that?"

"What is Darkle, exactly?"

She froze, making eye contact with Izuku again. "I..." She looked uncomfortable now, and fidgeted with her position a bit. "I don't really know. I'm the only one with the power and..." She shook it off. "Anything but that, Izuku."

"What are you? Your Quirk is a mutant type, right? But you used an emitter-styled fighting technique back there...Could your body and Quirk be connected, or is it like Tokoyami and it's not really there for any reason besides just..." He continued mumbling to himself.

"S-stop doing that, you're getting a bit creepy with the mumbling."

He started writing things in his notebook as she gave him a confused and concerned look.

She snapped at him. "Stop with the mumbling, I can't hear you when you mumble."

"Huh? Oh, sorry." He motioned a hand towards her floating limb. "Where's your body?"

She flexed her fingers. "This is my hand, like yours." She gently grabbed his hand. "I've never been able to make myself a whole body. Believe me, I've tried. This is all I could manage, I suppose."

She got silent suddenly, staring at the scars on his hands. She rubbed a thumb on them.

"Your hands..."

Izuku took his hand from her. "My Quirk. It can damage me pretty badly if I don't use it properly. I think your Quirk could be the same way, but I guess you-Wait, what was that you said? 'Make yourself a whole body?'"

She nodded. "I made my own form. I am just magic after all. It's hard to pass of as human without looking like one."

He gave her a weird look, but decided to ask about that at a later time. "About that bird..."

"Disco Feather? Isn't he just the sweetest thing? He's my dear pet!"

"But his body wasn't...When I countered his attacks, his body was breaking apart to reveal a weird glowing ball. Is he not real? Is he connected to your Quirk?"

She held out her other hand. "Oh, my dear, it looks like you've run out of time. I suppose I'll have to kill you now. How sad, I was actually starting to like you." She rose from the seat. "Oh well." She pulled her scepter out of her brooch, the twirled it. "Say hello to my Sour Bunch for me, would you?"

A portal opened where she spun her scepter, and a person hopped out of it. He was clothed in a orange Kung-Fu uniform, and struck a pose when he landed.

"I'll stop this fool for you, Madame Grape."

Izuku gasped. The fighter was connected to puppet strings. Izuku remembered Dimentio's puppet world he put the class through as a trial run for his friendship. Grape tried to portal herself away, but was tazered by the officers again, who also tackled the fighter to the ground. The Police Chief came in after Grape and the Kung-Fu Fighter were on the ground unconscious.

"I'm sorry about that. We'll have to find a way to block her Quirk while you speak to her. I did notice you were striking up a conversation, which is what we wanted."

"It doesn't seem like she knows anything about her Quirk either. And those puppet strings seemed really familiar to me. I'll have to see if I can contact him later and check."

"Could you come by tomorrow? We should have everything ready by then. It's Saturday, right? You shouldn't have school then."

"Okay, I'll bring a friend too. Maybe Uravity will have a better chance at talking to her."

"Good luck. See you tomorrow."

"Thanks, you too."