A/N - I am completely humbled by everyone's support of my little brain worm turned fanfic. I just can't wrap my mind around all the love and support from all of you, you are all so amazing and I wish I could reach through the screen and hug each one of you!

School is coming to a close in the next couple of weeks which means I will have more time to update this fic and *drum roll* post my OC's backstory fic. It will be a stand-alone prequel, so it won't be necessary to read it prior to this fic or vice versa.

Please comment below with any critiques, compliments, questions or even just to say "hi!" I would love to hear from you!

Thank you again!

Love and Light!
Kahelle

Chapter 20 – Revival

The sight of the door to Nedzu's office caused a cold lump to form in the pit of Aine's stomach.

In her mind's eye, all she could see was two men standing outside waiting for the order to take her down. Waiting for her to slip up. Her ears pricked up, listening for the sound of voices on the other side of the door. Listening for evidence of another ambush.

Her heart began to pound, her hands sweating as she stood with the files under her arm. You're being ridiculous. She told herself, breathing deep and even to try and curb the anxiety blooming in her chest. You have a concern that directly affects both students and possibly several more. You came here of your own volition not because you were summoned.

As she raised her hand to knock, an all-too-familiar voice hissed in her head.

*He betrayed you just like every other authority figure in your life. Just like your uncle, just like your teachers and just like me.*

Aine's heart beat faster, causing her monitor to buzz in her pocket. NO! His hands were tied just like mine.

*Were they? The rodent is a master strategist. You really believe that they caught him by surprise? On the campus of his own school?*

She squeezed her eyes shut; You aren't really here. You're just a voice. A misfiring of neural pathways. Just a voice, nothing more.

The disembodied voice laughed humorlessly, *Suit yourself. Live in your naivety until it brings you right back to me, my little Blink.*

"That's not my name!" she clapped a hand over her mouth, looking around hoping that no one heard her. To her relief, she was still alone. Great, the last thing I need is people thinking I'm headed for the loony bin.

After taking a few more breaths to steady herself, she raised her hand to knock on the door only for it to be opened before her knuckles could make contact. There in the doorway, stood Nedzu.

"Ah! Miss Satterfield! What a pleasant surprise! I just put some fresh tea on, please come in."

Aine followed him into the office, sitting in the chair he gestured to. No computer, no Mera, no Commission. She felt herself relax slightly as he poured the tea and offered her a cup. She placed the files in her lap and accepted the cup with a bow of her head.

"I am correct in assuming that this is not a social visit?" the principal climbed up to sit in the chair next to her rather than across the desk, holding his cup of tea and surprisingly not spilling a single drop.

"Yes sir." Aine set the tea cup onto the desk and picked up the files in her lap, "These are records I requested from both Aldera and Corusca Middle Schools concerning the first-year students Izuku Midoriya and Osamu Sasaki. I have reason to believe that they are concealing information about their treatment of quirkless students."

Nedzu sipped his tea, "I understand the concern for Sasaki, especially in light of recent events. May I ask why you are looking into Midoriya as well?"

Aine nodded, "I can't get into specifics without betraying confidentiality, but there have been some things mentioned by both boys that have indicated widespread harassment at both schools specifically towards quirkless students. However," she opened the files handing them to Nedzu, "if you look here Corusca shows no incidents even occurring on school grounds and here," she opened Midoriya's file handing it over as well, "there were complaints made by a single teacher about the treatment of Midoriya by students and faculty, but they were all dismissed and never reported outside of the school. Any other information that should be in those files: nurse's reports, parent contact, staff involved, anything that would be incriminating towards the school has been left out of what they sent us."

Nedzu had set his tea down on the desk in order to look at the files as Aine handed them, he flipped through the pages while stroking his chin. "This is very concerning, Miss Satterfield. They have even removed class lists from the files. Let me see what I can do about obtaining some of these missing files. Perhaps see if we can talk to this teacher at Aldera. Though she may be reluctant to talk to pro heroes or staff. If they went through this much trouble to conceal files I would not put it past them to have threatened her not to speak to authorities."

Aine stood and bowed, "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, of course." He closed the files and jumped down, returning her bow. Aine turned to walk to the door, "If I may, Miss Satterfield?"

She turned around, "Yes, Principal Nedzu?"

Nedzu stood with his paws held in front of him, "Before you go, I feel as though I must apologize. UA was never meant to be a prison to hold you but a sanctuary for your safety. Perhaps, in time, we can make this right for you." He bowed towards Aine, his voice sincere.

"Thank you, Principal. Please understand that UA is not a prison for me. For the first time in years, I have a home." she smiled.

Nedzu clapped his paws together and grinned, "I am glad to hear it! My apologies for keeping you, I must get to work myself." he walked her to the door, "It really is the most perplexing thing, the camera covering the wall between Gym Gamma and the city keeps malfunctioning between 8 and 10 every evening. Then again between 2am and 3am. My guess is there are rodents burying things underneath the wall interfering with the signal. Looks like I will be preoccupied with watching monitors for most of the evening the next couple of days until it is fixed." his smile widened.

Aine nodded, "I will leave you to it. Thank you for the tea." She stepped out into the hallway, letting the door close softly behind her.

She had barely opened her office door when the bell rang.

Settling in to her desk, she pulled out her phone and dialed.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Ishiyama, I'm sorry for the short notice but I was wondering if I could use Gym Gamma this afternoon? I wouldn't need anything extravagant. Just some gymnastics equipment if possible."

"Ah, Miss Satterfield! Toshinori has reserved the gym for this afternoon, but I should be able to have it ready by around 6:30pm or 7 if that would be acceptable."

Aine smiled to herself before she responded.

"That would be perfect."

That evening, Aine walked into Gym Gamma wearing her workout clothes with a hoodie and carrying a gym bag. She looked around and saw no evidence of any other occupants of the building. Scattered around the room were various pieces of equipment: uneven bars, rings, mats, a balance beam and even a few ropes and other aerial acrobatics apparatuses suspended from the ceiling.

And this was on short notice!

She dropped her gym bag and hoodie against the wall and walked over to the mat to begin stretching. After stretching, she did a few basic tumbling runs to get a feel for the mats. Aine smiled broadly as she landed her last pass. She spent the next two hours exploring the equipment: swinging, spinning, tumbling, and climbing. Through each movement, she could almost hear a lilting voice cheering her on.

"How do say…..like fish to water?"

Aine laid on the balance beam for a moment remembering kind blue eyes set in a face full of wrinkles. Wondering what she would think if she could see her "little fish".

As Aine let her muscles relax, she heard the chirp on her watch signaling the time. 8:30pm.

Moment of truth.

She went to her gym bag, grabbing the black face mask she had left inside, dropping her phone into the bag, and slipping the hoodie over her head. As she slipped the loops of the face mask around her ears, she hesitated. What if it was all a set up? What if she stepped outside and the commission was waiting? Should she have grabbed her Dochloite costume instead?

Her heart thrummed against her ribcage as she pulled the mask up to cover her face. Aine went to the back door of Gym Gamma, taking a deep breath before stepping out into the night.

It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the nearly pitch blackness behind the building. Just up ahead she could see the wall that surrounded UA's grounds peaking above the trees. Using the small grove as cover, she swiftly moved through the shadows until she stood at the base of the barrier.

Kneeling down, she began examining the base of the wall, running her fingers along the bottom of the stones. One stone wobbled as her fingers prodded it. Looking closer, she could see that the dirt had been recently disturbed around this area. She dug around the stone's base just enough to allow her fingertips to slide underneath the loosened stone. After several passes alternating between clearing the dirt and pulling on the stone, it finally gave way revealing a hollowed spot in its place. Inside sat a small wooden box.

Aine sat back on her heels as she opened the box. Inside sat two devices: one that looked similar to a miniature walkie-talkie and a phone. She set the unknown device back into the box and turned on the phone. As soon as the screen loaded, it showed a notification. Text message from Rat God.

She rolled her eyes at the nickname but tapped on the notification to open the text.

Rat God: Dochloite, we are pleased to foster a hero of your caliber in our city. Enclosed with this phone is a support item that I think you will find quite useful for your work. It is a signal scrambler that will work on any camera scrambling the footage for 10 minutes prior to its activation through 20 minutes after activation. It is a special gift from one of the students in my extracurricular support class to you as thanks. It contains 5 charges, after which it will need to be returned to the Support Course for a recharge so please use it sparingly. The entrance you use for the city shall remain open for you at the previously mentioned times. Good luck out there!

Aine picked the device up and placed it in her pocket. How did he know…..you know what….never mind, I don't think I want to know. I need to correct him on the 'hero' thing though.

Turning the box over in her hands, she heard a faint rattling coming from the bottom. Tapping on the inside, she discovered a false bottom to the box. Grabbing a small stick from nearby, she managed to pull the false bottom revealing a coiled-up rope with a collapsible claw on the other end. Another gift from Nedzu. She placed the box back into its hiding space, replacing the stone in front of it.

Stepping away from the wall, she swung the claw end of the rope around to gain momentum before releasing it towards the top of the wall. It took her a few tries but eventually she felt that satisfying thunk as the claw gripped the stones atop the wall. After testing that the grip would indeed hold her weight, Aine scaled the wall stopping to perch on the very top. She gathered the rope and dropped down to the ground below. To her left, she saw a tree with a hollowed trunk.

After depositing the rope into the tree, Aine stood and looked out over the city for the first time since she had set foot back in Japan.

The lights of the city stretched below the hill, blanketing everything she could see in different hues of colored light.

Shoving her hands into the pockets on her hoodie, Aine began walking.