Chapter 6 – Touch the Sky

"Shit…shit…shit!"

She ran through the rooftops as quick as she could, the dark clad hero closing in on her.

This was supposed to be quick, put him to sleep with her quirk and bring him back to the doctor. A stray dog gave her away before she could touch him.

"How can I get away?! He's too fast!" her thoughts were screaming at her. She couldn't get captured. She couldn't risk leading him to the closest safehouse. He seemed to be two steps ahead of her, unless…

She decided to take a risk and used a nearby pole to spin around launching herself directly under his feet just as he sent his capture weapon to grab her. Barely sliding beneath the grasp of the fabric, she twisted her body as she landed and, taking advantage of his momentary loss of sight to activate her quirk putting the image in his head that she was headed to a building opposite the one she turned towards, praying it was enough to throw him off her trail. Sprinting as fast as she could, she ducked into the closest building quickly finding a place to hide.

Her illusion hadn't worked, she saw him stop in front of the building and look through the windows. She pressed her body as tightly as she could against the alcove she was hiding in, not daring to glance out to see if he was still there or attempt using her quirk again. The building looked like an old, abandoned hotel or apartment building. No lights were on and all the furniture that should be scattered around the room was missing.

After what felt like an eternity, she peaked out to see if the hero was still out front. When she didn't see anyone, she carefully snuck into a nearby restroom. She pulled an outfit out of her hip pack and quickly changed. She pulled the cloth face mask off shoving it into her pack and pulled her hair out of the tight bun she had kept it in. Satisfied that she looked nothing like the person who walked into the building and just another 16-year-old girl, she left and stepped out into the night with a keen eye to the skies in case a strip of cloth shot her direction.

She pulled out her cellphone and dialed. After a few short buzzes she heard the call connect as she walked.

"Hello?"

"Hey Dad! I'm headed home. I'm sorry but I couldn't find that shop you told me about." she spoke in their predetermined code (I'm headed to the safehouse. Something went wrong.)

"Did you pick up the mail?" (Did you complete your mission?)

"No, they said it hadn't been delivered yet." (No, will try again another night)

Silence on the other end and then the tone of the call being dropped spoke volumes to her.

'Blink – you failed me.'

A stream of muttered curses floated in the air under her breath.

Aine shut down her computer, the last of her notes saved in secure files. She contemplated taking them home to work on over the weekend but decided against that in favor of exploring more of the campus. Maybe even see if she could get access to the gym Nemuri told her about.

As she finished packing her things, she heard a knock at her doorframe. After visiting with the classrooms, she had left her door open in case any students needed to visit. Standing at the door was Nemuri, already in civilian clothes.

Aine grabbed her laptop bag and slung in over her shoulder, grabbing her keys.

"Change your mind about working?"

"I figure I'll just hang around campus this weekend and relax." she shrugged. "Not like I can really go very far anyways until they find who it was that ordered my abduction."

The two women fell into a comfortable silence as they started towards the teacher's dormitory.

"Nemuri?" Aine broke the silence as they stepped through the doors into the common room, "Come by my apartment tomorrow, around 8? I think I'm ready to have that talk."

"I'll bring the wine if you pick a cheesy movie."

Nostalgia swelled in her chest as she chuckled, "Sounds like a plan!"

The common room was empty as they made their way towards the elevators.

"A few of us were going to unwind from the week at a bar just down the road. We always have room for one more if you want to join us," Nemuri pressed the elevator button, "With pro-heroes around, I'm sure the chief wouldn't object."

"Thank you for the offer but I don't think I'm quite ready for the bar scene yet." Aine answered as the door slid open and they stepped inside, "Do you still make those ridiculous concoctions of yours?"

Nemuri laughs, "You should have seen the last one I made! I had Hizashi be my guinea pig." She launched into a story about All-Might's retirement party. Aine leaned against the wall of the elevator, listening to her friend – her friend, not former friend, just her friend – recount the tale, a soft smile crossing her face. The elevator chimed as it reached it's destination, Nemuri stepped out the doors and waved as she headed down the hallway.

As the elevator doors slid closed, Aine settled back against the wall letting her eyes close while feeling the gentle vibrations on her back. The elevator chimed again as it reached her floor. As she went to her apartment and unlocked the door, she thought back to the conversations that had built to this. The first few were awkward, two people just trying to find a common ground, but somehow, they had slipped back into a familiar rhythm like the span of time and distance had never existed.

She set her laptop down on her little desk in her bedroom, opening it long enough to send an email.

Mr. Ishiyama,

Good evening! I was wondering if it would be acceptable for me to use one of the training facilities for free-running or gymnastics practices.

Thank you!

Aine Satterfield

She hit send and closed the laptop as she went to make something to eat. Aine grabbed the phone she had been given off the counter where she left it during the day not surprised to see no new notifications. She had heated up a bowl of instant noodles and settled onto her couch when her phone notification tweeted at her.

Miss Satterfield,

Thank you for your email. As a member of UA staff, you have full access to the facilities – simply use your ID to gain entrance. I have attached a map of the training grounds if you would like to use them for your free-running exercises. For Gym Gamma, all you need to do is notify me 12 hours in advance so I can make sure no classes are using the facility and that it is set up for your needs. I look forward to hearing from you and may I say welcome to UA!

Sincerely,

Ken Ishiyama

Aine finished her noodles and looked at the clock - 6:00pm. She thought about turning in for the night but from the moment Nemuri had told her about the gym her muscles had sung to be used again. Making a mental note to email Mr. Ishiyama in the morning about Gym Gamma, she searched through her drawers for something suitable both for movement and the chill. She settled on a pair of black workout leggings, a black tank top and a hoodie. Grabbing her phone and ID badge, she opened the attached map locating the training grounds. Deciding on the training ground that looked to be set up like a city, she headed out the door.

The walls and gates surrounding Ground Beta were massive. Aine spotted a smaller door to the side and swiped her badge. She heard the lock disengage and opened the door. Once inside she took a moment to marvel at the city scape that stretched out in front of her. Several buildings were damaged or even leveled but for the most part, it looked like a freshly evacuated city after a villain attack.

She spotted the tallest building she could see, mapping out a path to its rooftop from her position. After taking a few minutes to stretch, she began her journey. The building was all the way across the facility from where she started. As she pulled herself from the second window of the building to the roof, she pulled her body up into a handstand before dropping one foot and then the other in a semi-cartwheel to come to a standing position on the roof. The movements were slow and deliberate, getting her muscle memory to activate. Once on the roof, she reevaluated her path and started running through the rooftops.

The night air felt crisp and soft on her face as she ran, dodged, and maneuvered through the buildings. Before long, she stood on a rooftop next to the building she had decided to scale. Now that she was closer, she could see that a portion of the building had been demolished by some kind of explosion, but the rubble laid in a pattern that she could use to climb to the roof.

Taking a couple of steps backwards, she ran forward leaping onto the side of the building catching a half-way destroyed windowsill and using it to hoist herself upwards. As she maneuvered through the rubble pile, she lost her footing and hit the opposite wall with a heavy thud catching herself before she fell through the opening in the floor directly behind where her feet were. Pushing forward, she managed to find a handhold and clambered onto the roof.

Panting from the exertion, she laid down on the solid remainder of the roof looking at the expanse of stars starting to peak out above her. For the first time since she landed in Japan almost 4 months ago, she felt her mind empty, and her body fully relax. She put her hands behind her head watching the constellations above her and just existing.

The stars started to swim as tears began filling her eyes at the aching fullness that filled her chest.

I am home. I really am home.

She wasn't sure how long she had laid there staring at the sky above her, but the moon was high and bright above the eastern wall of Ground Beta when she rose from her rooftop sanctuary. Carefully picking her way back down to the ground, she walked down the large center street climbing over debris as needed until she was back to the entrance.

The walk back to the dorms was peaceful, more so than she had felt in a very long time. She breathed in the night air deeply, pulling the hood on her hoodie back and letting her hair fall down her shoulders.

Once she was back to her apartment, she showered and checked herself over for injuries. Other than some superficial scrapes on her hands and her side where she had collided with the wall everything looked to be fine. She tended to and bandaged the scrapes after getting dressed for bed.

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she felt the soothing darkness of sleep claim her.