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.

-------

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?"

"Didn't you just hear me? Got cotton in your ears?" This was the first time that Maddie portrayed her irritation, her eyebrow twitching minutely. "I told you that I was trying to save him."

"Save him?" the officer chuckled, as if he were dealing with a slow child. "From what? From the care that the Quirkless need?"

"Oh, please," Maddie scoffed derisively. "Let's drop that façade, shall we? You and I both know that those facilities only serve to condition children to be glorified pets, something less than human." Her glare turned scornful. "No better than the concentration camps Hitler used back in World War II, in my opinion. Only difference is that death for them would be a mercy, if you decided to do that."

The officer stared wide-eyed at her, as if she had just grown a second head. Realization soon began to dawn on her. "Unless," she said slowly, "you don't know, do you?" The officer's silence was answer enough. Maddie's expression immediately split into a gleeful grin. "You don't know," she stated. "I suppose you eat up everything the government feeds you, too?" She burst out into laughter. "Wow, I can't believe it," she forced out in between giggles. "I figured with how serious you were trying to look, you'd have some kind of brain between those ears of yours. But turns out, you're just another sheep!" Her laughter reached an uproarious pitch, as if this was the funniest joke she had ever heard in her life. She was subconsciously aware of the officer growling as he pushed his chair back, snatching up the manila folder and stomping out of the room. She was still laughing by the time he slammed the door. She only wished she had her hands free so she could wipe the tears from her eyes.

Why had she found that so hilarious? Perhaps because the stupidity of people never failed to dumbfound her. How they were so happy to fall in line with the status quo that the government set out for them. Ignorance must be bliss for them. Quite easy to achieve in this world if you have a Quirk.

She figured she had blown her chance to solve this amicably. She didn't care. If attempting to save a boy from a fate worse than death was a crime, then she would own that shit with pride. And she was going to make sure that they knew.

When she informed them that she didn't have a lawyer, the district attorney provided her one. Good to see that some democratic practices still exist. At the point where they finally had their meeting in the visitation center of the prison she was in, she was already garbed in the facility's assigned attire. The lawyer herself was a squirrely looking woman, who looked like she was one dog bark away from scrambling up a tree. She kept nervously adjusting her glasses, making Maddie wonder how they even stayed on her face.

"S-So," the woman stammered, going through documents she pulled from her briefcase, pushing her glasses up her nose as she did so. "I think it would be wise for you to plead guilty due to the fact that you were unaware of the Quirkless laws here in Japan, and say it was an accident. That way, you'll only get five years at most with parole. Th-That's the best possible outcome for you."

"Oh, I'll plead guilty," Maddie said, "but it wasn't an accident. I knew exactly what I was doing." She clasped her hands in front of her, jostling the handcuffs secured around her wrists. "I want you to let them know that."

The lawyer's mouth opened and closed like a gaping fish. Under any other circumstances, Maddie would've laughed at how ridiculous she looked. But she needed to get her point across. "And I'd do it again, too." The poor woman's nerves looked more frazzled by the second. Maddie would've felt bad for her if she wasn't another cog in the system. Right now, though, she couldn't care less.

"B-B-B-But," the woman stammered, "that would g-give you twenty-five to life in prison, if not an i-immediate life sentence."

Maddie's eyebrows raised. "Really?" she asked incredulously. "That's enough to get you life in prison?"

The woman pushed up her glasses again. "Qu-Quirkless are especially f-fragile. W-We take this k-kind of thing very s-seriously." Maddie resisted the urge to vehemently correct her. Besides, at least she was making a conscious effort to choose her words carefully. But man, this woman had to grow a backbone if she was going to survive in a law career.

"Huh, damn," Maddie replied instead. She leaned back on the hard stool she was sitting on, directing her gaze towards the ceiling. "Guess I gotta learn to get comfortable then. I wonder if their food's any good?"

The woman gawked at her. "You're... you're not seriously considering spending the rest of your life in prison, are you? You're going to throw away the rest of your life for this?"

Maddie guffawed once, a bitter, derisive sound. She then leaned forward, bringing her folded hands up to cover her mouth. The woman's visage paled considerably. The girl's eyes had been cast in shadow, turning her into something truly sinister. "I've already been through a lifetime's worth of suffering in the span of a year," Maddie said, tone darkening. "Prison sounds like a paradise compared to it. Make sure to tell them that." The lawyer could've sworn that something... beast-like flickered in the girl's blue eyes, peeking through the human mask she wore. Just as quickly as it appeared, it was gone, Maddie going back to her previously calm demeanor. The girl cheerily waved at her, giving the woman her cue to leave. She was practically tripping over herself in her haste. Maddie allowed herself one small chuckle at the sight. The woman must have heard her, because she muttered a "You're insane," before finally escaping the room. Maddie ruminated on that as the guards escorted her back to her cell. "I'm insane?" she mumbled to herself. She grinned, one that was tragically weary. "Yes, I suppose I am." She couldn't hold in the giggle. The guards cast her strange looks, but otherwise paid her no mind.

Apparently, she had spooked her lawyer so badly that she requested a psych evaluation for her client. Maddie was not at all comfortable about this, and she wanted to refuse. Unfortunately, she had to if she was going to avoid being sent to an institution. She'd rather not be locked up inside a mental asylum than a high-security prison.

Speaking of high-security prisons, after the evaluation declared her legally sane, she was transferred to Japan's most secure prison: Tartarus. She didn't know much about it, but she knew it was Japan's version of Alcatraz. The American island itself had been decommissioned for about seventy years as a prison up until the appearance of quirks. Now, like Tartarus, it was used to incarcerate some of the most dangerous villains in society. Maddie was told she was to remain in Tartarus until her trial, whenever the hell that was going to be. Whatever. She'd been through worse.

She could tell that they were deep underground. Each cell looked like giant bank vaults. The inside was blank white, which made her pulse quicken just a little. Thankfully, they kept the cell dark whenever she was left to her lonesome. The only restraints she was fitted with were cuffs built into the wall that kept her arms spread-eagled, thick steel covering her hands entirely. The entire setup kept her fixed in the chair situated at the far wall opposite the door. All in all, not bad digs. She could do without the Quirk-suppressant collar, but it would prove inconsequential in the long run.

She was informed of the rules before being left to her thoughts. And that was really the only downside to this: she was left to stew over how she failed to save Izuku. She had asked the Tartarus staff about where he was and how he was doing, but they blew her off. Didn't think they'd be that nice.

Sitting in the confines of her restraints, Maddie bounced her leg, agitated. She had really gotten herself into some deep shit this time. Still, it was better than what she expected. She could handle this.

Suddenly, the lights in her cell switched to life, momentarily blinding her. Her heartbeat quickened at the thought of not knowing what was going on, but it was just as quickly quelled by a voice over the loudspeaker in her cell. "Prisoner number five-two-four-eight. You have a visitor!" Maddie perked up at this, pleasantly surprised. "Really, already?" she inquired jovially, her legs swinging back and forth like an excited toddler. "Didn't know I was this popular!" Whirring from the walls made her still her movements. Right, the turrets... they would pump her full of holes if she made any sudden moves.

A partition from the wall to her right emerged from its opening, the solid steel and bulletproof plexiglass sliding into place to separate her and the cell door. An interrogation window. Once the wall settled, the door to her cell buzzed before popping open, allowing whoever was on the other side to step in. She braced herself for whoever wanted to visit her. She knew it wasn't her "lawyer" again; she was certain she had scared the poor woman off. So who could it be? She expected some kind of ambassador, maybe even the Prime Minister of Japan herself.

Instead, she was greeted with the sight of the most gaunt-looking man she had ever seen.

If she didn't know any better, she would've thought he was dead. His frame was absolutely skeletal, his clothes hanging off of him like grocery bags in the wind. It was hard for her to see his eyes at first because they were so sunken in, but she could tell they were a strikingly cold blue. Just like... no, no, this was different. There was a sort of warmth coming from this man, despite that he looked ready to keel over at any moment.

Intrigued befuddlement overtook her as she took in the stranger. "Hello," she greeted, unsure what else to say in this situation. "Who are you?"

The man let out a half-hearted chuckle. "Straight to the point, I see," he said, taking a few more steps into the room. The door shut behind him. "My name is Yagi Toshinori," he said, stopping just in front of the plexiglass window separating them. "And I work as All Might's secretary." He spoke as if they were two people in a café having a pleasant conversation.

The last thing he said eventually caught up to her. All Might's secretary?! What was he doing here?! She did her best to conceal her shock, something she had mastered over the years, swallowed, and took a deep breath. "I see," she replied. "I'll have to say, I wasn't expecting this at all."

The man, Yagi, chuckled again, wholeheartedly this time. "Yes, I can see how this could be quite surprising. A secretary visiting a prisoner in Tartarus." His face fell suddenly into something she couldn't read. "Speaking of which," he started, his tone turning gentle, "have they been treating you alright? They haven't been abusing you or anything? Giving you enough food?"

Maddie blinked owlishly at this stranger, wondering if he was alright in the head. But she sensed no malicious deceit from him, so she saw no harm in answering. "Can't say I'd choose a prison for my accommodations under any normal circumstances. But it certainly could be a lot worse." That wasn't even a lie.

At this, Yagi sighed, rubbing a hand down his face. He looked weary and beat-down, utter exhaustion weighing on his shoulders. "Yeah, about that," he said. "I know what you did that day."

"You were there?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I saw it on the news," Yagi quickly corrected, his gaze landing on her again. "I'm sorry," he seemed to add, catching Maddie off-guard. "Only really, really bad people get sent here. Mass murderers and the like. You don't deserve to be in a place like this."

The girl was getting whiplash from the apology and all the kind words she was receiving. She was beginning to like it. "Well, I guess they thought my Quirk was too powerful for any conventional prison, so here I am. To be honest, it's not that bad." She accentuated this with a shrug as best as she could in her bonds. This caused the man to regard her quizzically. "You are surprisingly calm about all of this."

Maddie released a wistful sigh, staring off to the side. "Yeah, well," she said, "like I said, it could be worse. And trust me, I've been through worse."

Yagi was silent after that, as if he had been struck by a heavy blow. He seemed to try and digest what she was suggesting before composing himself. "Is that why you tried to save the boy?" He asked that so softly that she barely heard it. "Uh..." she trailed off, trying to find the words. "It's a bit more complicated than that." She leaned forward then, the opportunity to ease her conscience presenting itself. "You know about Izuku? Is he okay?"

Yagi fixed her with an unreadable stare. She half-expected that he would spout off about how she had no right to ask about his well-being, like all the guards and officers did before. Instead, he said, "He's been returned to the Quirkless facility he had run from. I actually got a chance to see him after the fact." Yagi hesitated, making Maddie lean forward expectantly, ignoring the warning sounds of the turrets whirring to life. "It's..." Yagi tried desperately to strangle the words out. "It's bad. Even villains get better treatment than the Quirkless."

Maddie snorted. "Of course, what else is new?" Yagi nearly flinched from Maddie's scathing tone. "They'd all be better off living with their families than being locked up in a hell hole like that." She turned her icy blue stare back on Yagi, eagerness shining in her eyes. "But Izuku seemed fine to you, despite whatever they did to discipline him? He didn't seem...?"

"Don't worry," Yagi answered, giving her some relief. "Izuku's not the type to break so easily. He's strong and courageous, always ready to put up a fight. You both are."

Maddie leaned back in her seat, releasing a breath she didn't know she'd been holding. The praise Yagi directed towards her lightly blushed her cheeks, but she ignored it. "That's good," she said past her sigh. "I was worried about that. Guess I don't have to be."

Yagi stood stoically, the question he had asked earlier still weighing on his mind. "When I asked you why you tried to save Izuku, you said it was complicated." He dipped his head, his blue eyes glowing. "What did you mean by that?"

Maddie shifted around in her seat, recalling what she had felt when Izuku had been plucked from her grasp by the giant woman hero, the look he had. Reflecting an emotion she knew all too well: fear. It brought back horrible memories from years ago. She did her best to find the right words to explain herself. "When I saw his face when he was grabbed by that hero," she started, "I instantly recognized it. It was the face of someone who was so desperate to escape their hunters that they would do anything to survive. To escape a life that was so much worse than death. I..." she trailed off, memories flickering behind her eyes, making her somber. "I know what that's like."

"You do?" Yagi said it more to himself in horrified shock, but she heard it all the same. She nodded. "That's why I couldn't just sit there and do nothing. I didn't care what the consequences would be, if I could save someone, anyone, especially a kid from that kind of fate..." She suppressed the urge to shudder, letting the silence answer for her. "Guess it was for nothing in the end, anyway, huh?" This was why she would be no good as a hero, even with her Quirk. She couldn't even save one boy. She settled into the puddle of self-doubt, regret, and hatred for herself, something she was quite familiar with.

"That's not true." The declaration startled her a little bit, making her snap her gaze back towards Yagi. He stood with his fists clenched, not in anger, but in solidarity. "You see, I was sent to both you and Izuku to pass along a message from All Might, a message that he, regrettably, cannot give himself." His blue eyes seemed to glow when he looked at her, shining gratitude and pride in them. She could've been convinced that Yagi was talking about himself. "He says that you both inspired him in a way he hasn't been in a long time. You reminded him what it truly means to be a hero. And he is incredibly thankful. And so am I." To her utter astonishment, Yagi actually bowed respectfully towards her. She wondered if she was dreaming. She had to be dreaming, right? The Number One Hero of Japan, inspired by her? Her of all people? It was utterly preposterous. She was a nobody, not important. Expendable.

She wanted to say so many things in response to Yagi's declaration, but the only thing that came out was, "So, All Might had seen what happened." Yagi straightened, regarding her with a tilt of his head. She continued, answering his silent inquiry. "That boy was screaming for All Might to save him." Maddie looked back up to meet Yagi's gaze. "If he was there, why didn't he do anything?"

This time, Yagi did flinch, knowing he should've expected something like this. Technically, if All Might had intervened, neither Izuku nor Madeleine would be wrongfully imprisoned right now. However, "It's not as simple as that."

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "Why not?" She didn't sound accusatory, but he could sense it all the same. His brow scrunched up, making him look especially morose and pained. This only served to confuse Maddie more. "Because the public wouldn't have seen it as a rescue," he answered, tone hard as steel. "As exhausting and agonizing as it is, he has an image and reputation to uphold. He may be the Symbol of Peace, but that wouldn't be enough to sway public opinion."

Maddie scrutinized him intently, but all his mannerisms seemed genuine. She sighed again, long and heavy. "Yeah, you've got a point," she conceded reluctantly. "Doesn't mean it's fair, though." She grumbled that last part under her breath.

"You're right, it's not," Yagi agreed, hearing her despite her mutterings. "That's why All Might and I are going to do everything in our power to correct this. I'll – we'll get you out of this awful place. And we'll get Young Midoriya out of that facility."

Maddie tilted her head at him. "Huh?" Yagi seemed to hold himself more proudly. "I'm planning on adopting him, on getting him out of that horrible place. It's no way for a child to live." He stared levelly at her, solid in his conviction. "He deserves a chance at a normal life. I suspect it will take about a month at the very least, for everything to be finalized."

The girl could hardly believe what she was hearing. Perhaps this could all turn out for the best. She smirked. "Assuming you're telling the truth," she said, "then a month should be plenty of time."

Yagi had a suspicion she was talking about something else entirely. "Time for what?" Maddie just playfully giggled at him like a little girl. "Oh, nothing," she said. "Absolutely nothing at all." It was at that moment that the prison staff decided to interrupt their moment. "Time's up! Please exit the cell!" Yagi turned away from the speaker after they were finished announcing the end of his visit, fixing Maddie with a steely determination. "Everything I said was true. I'm not going to let either of you rot away in a prison you don't deserve to be in." His eyes shined again, empowering. "I promise, I'll save both of you this time."

Before she could ask what he meant, her cell door popped open, allowing him to leave once more. Just like that, he was gone, and she was alone once again. The interrogation window slid back into its place in the wall, and the lights shut off, plunging her into darkness again. This gave her a chance to process everything she had been told. She still couldn't get past that she had inspired All Might, the fricking Symbol of Peace, through her act of crime in the eyes of the law and the population of Japan. Perhaps All Might wasn't like everyone else. Perhaps he was one of the good ones.

"You are amazing, Maddie! Never forget that! You'll do great things someday, I just know it!" Her mother's words surfaced in her mind, and she valiantly fought off tears. Was what she did a great thing? Her parents would surely think so. She could just imagine how proud of her they would've been, if they were here now. That hole they had left behind ached like never before.

In the end, no tears had ended up falling, but her vision became blurry regardless.

-------

Yagi stalked through the halls of Tartarus like he was on a warpath. For all intents and purposes, he essentially was. He had meant every word he had said to the girl. He would save them, both of them. There was no doubt wavering his mind, even as he returned to the surface and got in his car.

On the ride back to his home, he had time to reflect on his meeting with the young woman. She didn't seem like she was one to stand out much. From what he could glean from her files, Young Madeleine was born Quirkless by the country of Japan. Soon after, her family moved back to America. He could only conclude that they had smuggled her out. It was enough to spare her from the facilities, but not enough to spare her from the discrimination. While her IQ test score put her above the usual treatment of Quirkless, she was regarded as just as useless as any other Quirkless person. She was able to stay with her family, but the segregation was no different than the facilities. He could only imagine how hard that must've been for her growing up.

That wasn't the only thing, though. When she turned fifteen, Madeleine and her parents mysteriously vanished. The investigation didn't last very long, and they were presumed dead. But then, she had popped up again out of the blue, fitted with a Quirk that she hadn't had previously, still among the living. The question was, what had she been doing for the past six years?

Yagi figured it couldn't have been anything good. He didn't know if the sudden manifestation of her Quirk was directly correlated with her and her family's disappearance, but the sudden call to end the investigation and declare them dead was fishy. He had heard rumors about how, in their ambition to empower their military might, the United States had secret organizations to "disappear" people, to experiment on them if they believed their Quirk could be useful to weaponize. He shuddered to even think about it. He certainly hoped that wasn't the case with Young Madeleine. Yet, with how she talked of Izuku and how afraid he was, he believed she could relate to the boy. She seemed to have aged forty years when she spoke of it, her eyes haunted from terrible memories long abandoned in the past. No child should've had to go through what she had. And yes, he knew that Madeleine was a twenty-two-year-old adult, but if she had been on her own since she was fifteen, with no one to support her, she would've had to learn to grow up fast. He believed that a scared girl was still hidden under the layers of weariness and toughness she had built up over the years.

He suddenly needed a drink, doctor's orders be damned. But when he finally returned to the penthouse suite he called his home, he just didn't have the energy to do so. The thought that Izuku and Maddie would be sleeping in a cell tonight while he was tucked into his warm bed made his nonexistent stomach curl unpleasantly. Resolute, he pulled his cellphone from his pocket, dialing a contact he wasn't sure would answer him at this time of night. But the receiver picked up on the other end on the first ring.

"Principal Nezu? You're not busy right now, are you? Oh, good, because there's someone else I need to tell you about..."

-------

Author's Note: Chapter 2 for you guys! Figured I'd do weekly updates for this. And just in time for Whumptober too! Maddie seems pretty scary, huh? I expanded a bit on Zyla's and Shadowhuntress's world where the U.S. does have similar Quirkless laws as Japan, but there was an amendment made where Quirkless children can stay with their families if, and only if, they score a certain minimum on an IQ test. They'll be able to exist in society but not without a sh*t ton of accommodations. Segregation is once again prominent in American society, the irony of which I touch on a little later. However, the truly traumatic stuff that Maddie's remembering pertains to something other than those laws and ideals. That will be revealed later as well. Essentially, my OC is a traumatized badass who now dedicates her time to protecting as many Certified Cinnamon Rolls (tm) as possible. And the reason why she was sent straight to Tartarus is because the authorities deemed her Quirk to be extremely dangerous, as well as an underlying bias that violation of Quirkless laws is an extremely serious offense.

Please let me know what you think!

Praise is appreciated and constructive criticism is encouraged.

See you next time!

-The_Mayflower