(Wednesday)

Toph doesn't even make it to school the next day. She barely sleeps, but is woken up abruptly by her nanny, ushering her into her school clothes. Toph has the sense of mind to insist she dresses alone in her room, but it takes twice as long and she can tell her nanny is already suspicious.

"Your breakfast is waiting downstairs. I'll go make your drink," the woman says through the door, and leaves for the kitchen.

"Okay," Toph replies through gritted teeth. She waits until the nanny is out of sight. She takes four steps down the stairs, and then loses her grip on the railing.

The pain is, for lack of a better word, blinding.

The last thing she hears is her nanny crying out in alarm, and heavy footsteps surrounding her.


"—can't explain this injury, then I will be forced to fire you, Koharu-san."

"Please, I don't know what happened, she was fine yesterday… will call an ambulance for her—"

"I'll take her myself. You should worry about packing up your things, and finding a new career. Don't expect to find any more caretaker work from now."

"Mrs. Beifong, I-I can't afford to lose this job—"

"Get out of my sight!" Poppy's shrill voice draws Toph's attention for a moment. She's on a sofa, she's still at home—

"Mother," she calls, and can hear Poppy shift towards her. "Mom, it was just an accident…"

Cool hands grip her forearm. "Don't bother lying," Poppy says quietly. "I thought we were doing well, but… We'll fix this. We can still fix all of this."

Despite the certainty in her mother's tone, Toph doesn't feel reassured. "It's just a sprain, it'll heal…"

"Rest, my lotus," Her mother pushes her back against the cushions. "I know what this is Toph. I know. I don't know how you've kept practicing with that quirk, but it doesn't matter. You will be fine once we get to the hospital."

She wants to argue. She has to. Her mother isn't talking about her leg, but she's so tired now.


"I'm so sorry, sweetheart."

The next thing Toph remembers isn't the pain in her leg, but her arm. Her arm feels wrong. Pinched. Burning. Toph thrashes, reaches through empty air and seizes an arm. A loud cry tells her she's broken someone's wrist, and then everything fades again.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think it would go this far."

The burning isn't there anymore, but the memory of a fight tingles in her arms and face. Maybe she got punched. Maybe she punched someone. That voice

"Toph, you sweet girl… I'm so sorry. It might hurt, but you can remember now."

That voice again. This time when Toph hears it, there is no fuzziness, and no question as to who that voice belongs to. "A-Aiko," Toph breathes. Her legs brush against the rough fabric of a bed. She twitches when a warm hand skates over her forearm. This can't be right. She's done with this. Aiko ended their sessions over a year ago, Toph had convinced them all—and yet.

And yet it feels as though Aiko's been saying this for a while. As if Toph has been here many times. She can smell her therapist's perfume and the scent of disinfectant in the air. "Where am I?" She asks, even though the answer is already creeping up into Toph's mind, haunting her senses. The hum of fluorescent light. The subtle drip of an IV. The rumble of life, muted by walls, just outside the door.

"This has all gotten out of hand," Aiko sighs instead, resting her elbow on Toph's cot. She is in a cot. In a hospital of some kind. "And I'm responsible for a lot of it, aren't I?"

Awareness returns with a rush of fear. "How did I get here? What did you do to me?" Toph demands, suddenly flexing her hands, her feet, straining her ears—there are tight straps over her limbs, and she can't hear much past the room. "Where's my mom?" They're alone, and Toph can't pretend any longer. "You messed with my head. My memories. Give it back." Twinkletoes, where was Twinkletoes?

What a liar. She can't remember shit.

Aiko gives a small huff. "I was trying to take away your willfulness, actually. For such a gentle-looking girl, you can be so stubborn."

Toph is so sick of being told how she looks.

"I'll show you stubborn," Toph snarls, lurching off the bed threateningly. She doesn't even given her injured knee a second thought, but it's it a tight brace now. "I'll show you you willful. Tell me what you're doing to me or I'll bust out of here before you can say 'delicate'."

And Aiko does not hesitate. Her heart holds a steady, quick beat. "They've been trying to remove your quirk."

Toph stops breathing for a moment. She thinks the rest of the world stops for a moment, too.

"Th-that's impossible." She draws back. "You can't do that."

And yet.

All those strange words from her mother. The headaches. Her quirk acting strangely at the Rumble—she blamed it on exhaustion, she thought she had just lost her focus, but there may have been moments while Toph was in the ring and she couldn't see.

"You did something to me," she whispers her guess, barely remembering the pinch and burn of a needle in her arm. "My mom knows about this already."

"They know, yes," Aiko murmurs. "And I'm supposed to make you forget about it each time."

"Each time," Toph repeats weakly. "It's not working." She would be dead by now if they actually suppressed her powers. Fuck, she could've died in the ring. "Who's doing all this?" Her parents are rich, not supervillains. She would have noticed if they had been planning this all along. "Why are they doing this?"

Aiko hesitates. "You don't need to know—"

"Of course I need to know!" Toph all but screams. "Just tell me, you'll wipe my brain after anyway!" Not that she'll let this go. Toph isn't sure if they've had this conversation before but fucking damn it, she can't forget this. She can't, she can't

"I can't." The woman sounds as if she's suppressing a sob. "I can't do that, Toph, because I-I'm not going to keep wiping you."

"What does that mean."

Aiko grabs her hand suddenly, and Toph represses the urge to jerk away, instead squeezing the hand, searching for a pulse point. "We only have so much time alone, sweetheart. When I joined, I never thought I would be agreeing to the sort of experiments they do, the sort of company they keep. Amon's Vision used to be so much clearer, honey, a-and now it's run by gangsters and villains."

"You are a villain," Toph says with vicious, unrepentant certainty. "You are a villain. You wiped my mind. You wiped Endeavor's mind, too," she adds furiously, and the woman doesn't deny it.

Aiko squeezes her hand. "I-I don't regret that. There's a lot of anger in that man's head. I'm sorry I had to wipe you from it, but it's for the best." She pauses. "Not even Endeavor could stop them, Toph."

"Amon's Vision, that's just a bunch of lunatics," Toph says angrily. She knows that name, they were the ones that tried to take her. It doesn't make sense, not if her parents are involved, but when have villains ever made any sense? "If you're so scared of them, if you didn't agree with them, you'd go to the police and the heroes with everything you had."

A pause. Aiko sighs.

"I never could get you to yield, Toph," she says, and her tone is surprisingly tender. "I should've known better. You are resilient. Your quirk is too. It'll take years and years before they can really transfer a power like yours. Earth is the element of substance, after all. "

It irks her, but the turn of phrase resonates with Toph. It's a common saying among Avatar myths. She's heard Loban say it too, marveling at her strength."You believe those stories, don't you?"

She feels Aiko nod. "If you knew what I did, so would you. But I can't do this anymore. You're just a child. You all are." The fear in Aiko's voice is real, at least. "My son is your age, Toph. I've known enough minds to know I'm being irrational, but—whatever I may believe, this isn't the way. This can't be our salvation. Perhaps none of us are worthy of it anymore…"

At this point her heartbeat picks up again, fluttering as her hysteria rises and she begins to ramble.

Toph can do nothing but listen.

Amon's Vision. Quirk-suppressants. Debts, bribes, failed experiments. Nonsense, it's all bullshit to her. "You weren't supposed to be taken with those other children," Aiko says at one point. "But once you were, once they saw your potential…Your parents had a choice, just like me. But I could never make the decision they did."

That part, by far, pains her the most. Toph doesn't have much left in her to worry about her parents anymore. She keeps listening, even though Aiko doesn't make sense.

In the back of her mind, she recites a phone number.

"—But you… You, Toph. I've never met a bender like you. After seeing your mind, I don't think there are many benders like you at all. And I think if I help you escape, I might escape this fate as well."

"You're crazy," Toph mutters, raising her eyebrows. "But if you mean it, then untie me from this stupid bed."

"Part of the quirk. But enough about me. We have to move quickly." Is this Aiko lady even real? Toph's head still feels a little light. "I'm real, Toph. I can help you, but no one can know."

Toph shakes her head resolutely. "I can't just escape these people. My parents put me here. You need to help me turn them in, get the heroes involved." That's what she should do. That's the right thing.

"The Beifongs are a part of this," Aiko agrees, already reaching over to remove the IV drip from her arm. "But it's not just them."

"Who else is there?" Toph asks, tugging her arms free. "What do you mean?"

"They're everywhere," Aiko whispers, gripping the metal edge of the cot tightly. "And they know everyone."

The conviction in her voice is frightening. And Toph doesn't think she made this decision out of nowhere. This lady saw something—something so bad it frightened the fanatic right out of her system. And she expects Toph to keep her head down and let them go?

"You have to do something. Don't–don't half-ass this stupid rescue attempt," Toph regains her calm, mouth set into a deep frown.

The woman just sighs again. "I can't let them get to my family, Toph. They would kill me, they'd take Hitoshi away. I can get you out, but nothing more." But she's told Toph a lot. Surely Toph could just go to the police anyway…?

If she wants to alert the authorities, she has to be sure Aiko won't just mess up her mind on the way out.

She stands, and unbuckles the straps around Toph. Toph leaps to her feet, unsteady, and pushes Aiko's hand away when she tries to help. "Don't touch me. Don't ever touch me," Toph tells her. She wants to sound threatening, but thinks it comes out more like a plea. That's fine by Toph.

Aiko lowers her hands away from Toph. "It's not something I can stop on my own," she answers, melancholy and soft. Like her whole world is shattering.

No. Toph doesn't want to pity her. Hell, she has her own crummy world to deal with. She ignores the woman's odd shifts in mood to ask, "Is there a phone in here?"

"By the door," Aiko pauses. "I'll check if the coast is clear—you need to go left, and take the first right towards the east stairwell. It'll take you to the back of the building, between the hospital and an office building. Get Hotshot to meet you there."

Toph is alarmed that she even knows the name Hotshot, but now isn't the time to question it. The lady's a mindreader, after all. As Toph reaches for the phone, Aiko slips into the hallway—and is immediately called over by another nurse. Toph pauses to listen.

"Aiko-san! You're needed downstairs, th-there's a visitor for you."

"Can it wait?" Aiko says distractedly. "I still have work to do."

"I don't think so, looks like an emergency!" The woman's voice is a bit shrill, and Toph finds it strange.

"...Okay. But please don't disturb my patient, I'll be back soon."

"Oh, no worries about that," the woman calls back to Aiko as she leaves. "I've got my hands full with A-21, he's showing a lot of activity today!"

Toph frowns. There were other people being experimented on right now, right here. How many? Was Toph the only one Aiko bothered caring about?

Her leg was still hurt, but not as badly. Her mind was clearer now, though she wasn't sure if Aiko planned on fixing all the memories she messed with. Toph can't just run away now. Not without knowing more.

She sets the phone back on its receiver and carefully stomps the ground, analysing the multi-leveled building for anything familiar. She can't tell who's on the cots scattered on this floor and the one below, but she can sense the doctors and nurses walking around. She can feel Aiko as she steps into the lobby.

And she can sense a huge, muscular man at the front desk, arms crossed and fuming.

Aiko stutters to a stop as it clicks in Toph's mind. She can hear Aiko's heart pounding erratically from a floor away.

"Endeavor?"


Fuyumi is expecting a storm to run through her home. She supposes that excessive cleaning is her way of battening down the hatches, at least spiritually.

It's so exhausting to watch her father get upset. It hurts her heart more than anything else. It hurts more when he fights with Natsuo and Shouto, though she hasn't seen that happen in year or two.

But anyway, back to her cleaning. If they're lucky, Natsuo will still be hanging out at his friend's house when their father gets home. Shouto… well, Shouto knows he must be upset. Fuyumi finishes with the kitchen, and goes to sort through the coat closet. She hasn't tried to sort that closet in years, it's kind of scary how much of a mess it is. But Fuyumi can certainly lose herself in organizing it, and forget everything else she has to face, so it's the perfect time to tackle that monstrosity.

And, just as she suspected, it takes ages to sort through. Soon, she's surrounded by piles of clothes, and half the closet is still on hangars. There's Natsuo's jackets—the ones he's too big for and can be given to Shouto, the ones he doesn't wear and should be donated, the ones he does wear but only on special occasions…

Wow, why does Natsuo have so many coats?

Then Fuyumi frowns. Some of these were Touya's. That's even further up on her list of 'Don't Think About This', so, back to sorting clothes.

It's much easier to find your things if they weren't so mixed up with everyone else's jackets… Well, maybe not for her, since her jackets were mainly pastel colors… Hm, it'll make more space if she takes out the winter coats, they don't need those yet.

As she tugs a big raincoat out of the closet to straighten it, something clatters to the floor.

Fuyumi blinks, reaching down for the plastic rectangle. She turns it over in her hands, and is thoroughly confused by the picture in the little frame. At first, it looked like Mom was in it, but the woman's hair was lilac, not white. I think I've seen her before, Fuyumi wonders. But why is there a family portrait of her in the house? It was a woman, a man, and a young boy that looked very much like the two of them, with purple hair and violet eyes.

Just then, the front door unlocks. She looks up and Enji is there, slowly taking off his shoes in the mudroom. "I'm home," he announces flatly.

Fuyumi looks back at the raincoat in her hands, and then the picture frame. "Dad? Do you know these people?"

Perhaps he hears something unusual in her voice, because Enji's head snaps up. He looks kind of dazed rather than angry. Fuyumi's sure he's had a lot of bad press to deal with already, and doesn't need to be bothered with this, but something about the picture frame unsettles her. She offers him the photo.

Enji's eyes go from scrutinizing Fuyumi's face to the mess of coats all over the entryway to skimming over the photo in her hand. "What the hell is all this?" He says, not quite reaching annoyed but surely on the way towards it. He reaches for the photo, nonplussed.

He blinks a few times. His face goes slack.

"Dad?" Her eyes fall to his hand, holding the picture frame. There's a tremor running through his arm now. "Dad? Dad, I'm sorry, it just fell out of your coat?" But he doesn't look mad. Fuyumi has no idea how to describe the expression on his face, only that it's no expression at all. Like a trance. That worries Fuyumi even more. Tentatively, she puts a hand over his, lowering the photo from his face. "Are you okay?"

After another agonizing moment, his blue eyes focus on her again. And there's no mistaking the look of anger on his face now. Fuyumi draws back, and Enji holds onto the photo.

"I'm fine, Fuyumi. I need to go out." He steps back to the door, pulling his work cellphone out. "Thank you."

Thank you? Now she's sure something's up. Her dad doesn't thank anyone! "F-for what? Dad, are you sure you're alright?"

"Take care of your brothers," Endeavor calls back to her—and he's in Endeavor mode now, she can see it in how he's stomping around, how his fire-beard flares up every once in a while. This is so weird. He's so weird, he never talks this much to Fuyumi. "I don't know how long this will take."

The door shuts firmly behind him.

Fuyumi stares, bewildered. She still has his raincoat in her other hand.

"So," a voice says from behind her, making Fuyumi shriek in surprise. It's only Shouto, of course, and he doesn't look the least bit sorry for startling her. "Does that mean we can have soba for dinner?"


"Endeavor?" Detective Ito, dressed in nurse's scrubs and a badge with the wrong name, stares at him in polite surprise. "What's all this about?" She asks innocently.

But Enji knows better. Hell, she knows it too. Her face might look calm and innocent, but he can see the dawning dread in her violet eyes. His gaze darts from her to a few other nurses in the lobby. Some are busy, but others pause to gawk at the Number Tw—Number Three hero in their hospital. Fuck, he wasn't prepared for that little announcement. It rocked him to the core, to find out he had fallen a spot in the rankings. And then that picture—that fucking picture, he could barely remember taking it but he did—

Rain, humid and chilly at the same time. A woman chatting beside him. Tarrlok out of prison, paperwork in his hands. It was a spur of the moment thing, amongst a million other thoughts in his head—there was a turned-over picture frame on Ito's dash, and he swiped it because he was naturally suspicious and angry and confused at the burgeoning conspiracy in his hands.

Two. Fucking. Years.

He's sure Amon's Vision has grown since then. He's sure, because some of the so-called medical personnel around them are watching warily, anticipating something others know nothing about. He's prepared for that.

"It's over for you. If you come quietly, it'll be better for everyone," Endeavor says steadily, holding back the rage he feels for this backstabbing maniac.

The woman offers a pretty, bemused smile. "I don't understand."

"Don't make this difficult, Shinsou. You know what this is." She flinches at the sound of her real name, and Endeavor steps forward. "Umeko Shinsou. You're under arrest. Don't make me list all the damn charges."

She steps back, her facade crumbling. It looks like she's caving. But there's a 'doctor' on her left that looks furious.

"I…" Umeko looks frantic now. Her eyes dart around, realizing what this is culminating into. "I'm sorr—"

And then the lobby bursts into motion. A doctor charges from the front. A screech from his left indicates another target shooting out a stream of razor-sharp water his way.

Endeavor lifts a hand and everything burns.


People are screaming now. It's chaotic, but Toph has enough sense to know it's a fight between Endeavor, a handful of heroes, and crazy bag of lunatics.

And Toph can't leave. How can she just run away now? But the faint hum from the phone line beckons her. She wants this to be over. She wants to see Hotshot and fight in a ring with Quillfish and the others. She wants to... to...

There's a tremendous crash from the floor below her, hard enough to knock her off her feet. All around, medical supplies are clattering and smashing and people are wailing—kids are crying. Kids are crying. Inasa is crying.

.

.

.

Toph bolts out of the room, staggering around other people. One or two of them address her—someone grabs her, and she bites their hand so hard she can taste blood. Inasa is crying. He's across the hallway. She can remember his so clearly now, she knows his voice better than anyone else's. The door is locked. Her knuckles bruise, split open, creak and snap alongside the metal lock—

"Twinkletoes?!" She yells at the boy, who's tripping and gasping as he climbs off a cot.

He's on the floor, and makes an awful wailing sound. "Toph?!" He chokes out, and she wraps herself around him, tugging him to his feet. "S'that you? What—it hurts—"

Inasa is too big for her to carry, but she hugs him and drags him towards the door anyway. "We gotta go, they're fighting downstairs!" Not that Toph knows where they'll go, or who can even be trusted. Her stomach churns in unease, wondering how Twinkletoes could've gotten stuck in this place too. Wondering what they've done to him.

"You're here," he wheezes, and man is he out of it. They're both out of it. Her hands hurt like a bitch, her leg does too. "You're—here?"

"No shit, Inasa, now help me out and stand up."

It's a struggle. She's never felt so exhausted before, and Inasa's heartbeat is sluggish and freaking her the hell out. But he stands up, breathing heavily, and they shuffle into the hallway again. And then they're immediately spotted by a nurse.

"What the fu—stop! You two!" She shouts, garnering the attention of two others. Toph lets go of Inasa to stomp on the ground, uncaring of the delicate tiled floor, and punches out the first nurse without blinking an eye.

Holy moly does it hurt, though. Another person yanks her by the hair, and she cries out—Inasa yells too, being dragged away by the other person. "Let me go!" Toph screams, twisting around his grip. She claws at the man, catching his cheek, and then there's a sharp pain across her face as he back-hands her.

"Toph!" Inasa gasps, "No, stop it! Stop it—"and then he abruptly goes quiet.

The man holding Toph staggers backwards. The woman holding Inasa freezes. "No way..." she mutters, teeming with excitement.

A rush of wind brushes Toph's face, and the whole building seems to be trembling. Rattling. She can hear pipes screeching in the walls, on top of the frenzied fight happening on the floor below them. The wind whips past Toph suddenly, and the two adults are blow off their feet. One crashes into a wall and moans. The other hits an elevator and crumples, silent. Toph tries to feel for Inasa, but he's not there. The wind blows harder, circling around where Inasa once stood.

"Twinkletoes?" she calls to him, confused.

When Inasa finally speaks, it's with a voice that sounds like a hundred people at once. It's a bellow of anger and power the shakes Toph to her bones. It's the voice of something much more than Inasa.

"ALL OF YOU—WILL BE STOPPED!"