They were taken to the station in one of the school's limousines, not a police car. It was a better start, but as soon as they entered the precinct Elly felt more like a criminal than she cared to. They carted her off to be fingerprinted and have her photo taken while Mic waited outside. He whipped out his phone and started playing a popular game.
"Present Mic?"
"Yeah, she okay?" The dog-headed man behind was genuinely baffled.
The officer shook his head. "I've never come across anything like this."
"Eh?"
"No prints." He shook his head again. "We ran her in the system and she's not coming up. It's not that she burned 'em off, or anything... they're there. But according to the computer, she doesn't exist."
"That's kinda what I thought." He paused. "Uh... can she come back out now? You've kept her for awhile, and she's kinda my responsibility."
"Chief wanted more tests run." He shrugged.
"Look," Mic said as he started to sweat, "she's not a villain or a criminal... I don't think. At worst she's a little messed up in the head."
"I'll see what I can do," he offered.
Several minutes later Elly came slowly out from the room, her eyes wide in a manner he recognized when one was struggling to hold back tears. She was shaking and extremely pale, her cat ears folded back into her hair and nearly invisible. When she saw him she jerked a little in his direction but then stopped, unsure. The female police officer escorting her nodded.
"You can go."
She darted furtively over and stood very close to him on one side, making sure he was between her and the cops. "Don't let them take me back there again," she pleaded quietly.
Wanting to give some kind of comfort, the Voice Hero patted her awkwardly on the shoulder. "S'okay. I, uh, didn't think this through." He was was relieved to notice her shaking had stopped and he sighed and turned to the cop on duty. "Awright. Let me guess, no news means it's all on us now."
The woman had retreated during her outburst and the basset hound man was the only one around. He seemed sympathetic, though that could have just been his soulful eyes. "Yes. You can go - she's been put into the system for future reference. We'll contact U.A if we hear anything else."
"Yeah. Us, too."
They walked out the door into the mid afternoon sun.
"They strip searched me," she told him softly, her eyes haunted. "I've never been - I don't get in trouble, ever, and it was... just, so embarrassing and <i>degrading</i>."
"Aw, shit. Sorry about that. I tried to get you out of there as fast as I could, but they were determined once you didn't show up in their precious database."
As they were headed back to the campus he checked his phone and groaned dramatically. "Crap."
"What's wrong?"
"I had tickets to somethin', and it's almost go time." He shook his head.
"Wait, are you saying you can't because of me?" Her ears laid back and she sounded mortified. "Couldn't you get someone to watch me while you go?"
He perked up, his eyes bright behind his shades. "Hey, yeah, I bet if I could get somebody else for a couple hours it'd be okay. It's not like you're goin' anywhere."
She smiled weakly. "Yeah. Then you can go."
He found Toshinori and dragged him there as promised, babbling the whole way about how he would "owe him one" and he'd be "back in a couple of hours".
The bigger man simply nodded. "I will get her settled into her room at the dorm. You can meet us in the common area when you're ready."
Mic blurted thanks and ran off, waving behind himself as he went.
Yagi frowned. "I would like to apologize for my colleague," he murmured. "He's a good man, he just ... lacks judgement sometimes. Not intelligence - he's clever -- but he doesn't think things through. I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt your feelings."
She blushed and shook her head furiously. "Oh, no! No, he didn't. It was my idea. I didn't want him to miss out because of me. I mean, I'm not worth it."
She jumped when he placed a large hand on her shoulder, sighing rather sadly. "You <i>are</i> worth it whether you know it or not. Everyone has value."
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