Chapter 22 – Happiness Does Not Wait
Aine never spoke a word as they drove through the city towards the police station. Each time he looked out his peripheral vision at her, she stared straight forward through the window. Shouta had never seen her this quiet. He was used to her rages, her panic attacks, her jokes but this cold silence was different. From the moment that door closed behind them on the roof, to UA and now headed to the station she had said less than a handful of words to him.
Tsukauchi was waiting for them at the front of the station as they arrived. He looked from Shouta to Aine and back to Shouta before speaking, "Taketa has agreed to tell everything he knows as long as Aine is in the room." he waved for them to follow him into the building. As they walked down the corridor, he continued. "I'll lead the questioning and record his statement." They stopped in front of a door, "Eraser, you are welcome to wait out here or come in the room with us. Hopefully, this won't take long."
Aine stared at the door, her mouth pressed in a hard line and her face set in stone.
Shouta looked from Aine to Tsukauchi, "If it's all the same, I would like to hear what he has to say as well."
"Alright. Well, let's get this over with." He opened the door and allowed the two of them to walk in before him.
There was a table in the middle of the room with lamps in the corners. Handcuffed hands clasped together on the table facing the door was a man in a pale blue t-shirt and jeans. At first glance, he looked like any other person you would see on the street. Shouta didn't recognize him; he didn't look like any of the pictures of the people from the warehouse Aine was held in. Who was he?
The man's eyes widened as Aine took a seat across from him. Her hands folded on the table, her eyes boring a hole straight through him. His eyes dropped down onto his handcuffed hands as Tsukauchi settled into his seat and placed a recorder on the table, hitting record. Shouta leaned into the corner of the room closest to Aine with his arms crossed.
"This is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. Also present is the accused Miyazato Taketa, witnesses Aine Satterfield and Pro Hero Eraserhead. Mr. Taketa, you understand that this statement is being recorded. Correct?"
Taketa didn't look up, "Yes, Detective."
"What is your occupation?"
"I am a nurse at Musutafu Central Hospital."
"Are you prepared to give your statement in it's entirety with the understanding that it will be examined using a lie-detecting quirk?"
He nodded, "Yes, sir."
Shouta caught the momentary sideways glance Aine shot at the detective on his mention of his sister's quirk.
"Did you have any interactions with Miss Satterfield prior to her admittance to Central Hospital?"
Taketa looked up and shook his head, "No. I had heard stories and descriptions about her but before then I had never seen her before."
"Where did you first hear about her?" Tsukauchi looked at Aine, her eyes were unmoving on Taketa.
He swallowed hard, Shouta swore he could see the man's hands beginning to shake, "When she boarded the plane to Japan. Doctor Garaki had been tracking her all this time, waiting for her to return. He gave us all a full description of her and then we were given our assignments. Two were to wait for her at the station, another two were supposed to trail her from the gate. I was working a shift at the time her plane arrived, so I was assigned to come in to assist after she was handed over to Garaki."
Aine's eyes were dark, and Shouta noticed her knuckles turning white from how tightly she held her hands. Tsukauchi noticed as well if the subtle glance he gave to her was any indication.
"Assist with what?"
Taketa seemed to shrink in on himself, "Assist with the Nomu process."
All the air seemed to evaporate from the room. Shouta's blood itself ran cold as he stood, his arms falling to his sides. So that was their intention, to turn her into a Nomu.
Tsukauchi seemed to be the only one unaffected by the revelation. He looked at Shouta and then Aine, silently asking her permission to continue. She looked at him and nodded.
"Obviously, that never happened. Why?" Tsukauchi leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table with hands clenched against his chin.
Taketa leaned backwards, "Plans changed. Several transfers were interrupted when the main group had to move locations multiple times. Then, the order came down to keep her held and keep an eye on her but that priorities had shifted. After that, I was cut out of communications but told to stay close to my phone. After a couple of months, the call came."
The man shifted uncomfortably in his chair, "I was instructed to do whatever I needed to do to make sure I was the nurse assigned to her." he shook his head, "I was confused but agreed. Not but an hour later, she was brought in by ambulance."
He brought his handcuffed hands down to rest in his lap, "After she was stabilized, the only instructions I was given was to keep her there however I could without arousing suspicion. So, I manipulated the chart, so that the doctor did not see her medical history. She kept prescribing Miss Satterfield pain medication. Effectively keeping her drugged."
Aine leaned back heavily in her seat, arms crossed across her chest and her eyes flashing with white hot rage. Shouta folded his arms across his chest and fought to keep a disinterested face.
Tsukauchi motioned for Taketa to continue.
"I made an error, the quirk suppressants she had been given wore off at the same time as the pain medication on the second day and she woke up." He brought both hands up to scratch his shoulder, "When the Detective showed up, I heard him on the phone discussing protective custody with someone before he went into her room. I reported it back to Dr. Garaki and he said to allow it to happen. That the main focus had changed, and she would serve as a good distraction."
Tsukauchi tilted his head slightly to the side, "The focus had changed to what?"
"Some kid at UA. The doctor figured if we could keep the pros and police focused on her there would be less resistance when it came time to try and get the kid."
Shouta couldn't stay quiet, "Which student at UA?" he stepped forward and placed his hands on the table, his voice almost a growl "Who are they after?"
Taketa jumped and raised his hands to his chest with his palms out in surrender, "I don't know! They never told me who, just some kid!"
Shouta and Tsukauchi exchanged a glance, "Did they give you orders after that?"
He shook his head, "Even if they had I wouldn't have followed them…." he looked up at Tsukauchi, "I…I listened through the door when she told her story to you, Detective. After hearing what she had been put through… it was so different from what we had been told….I… I couldn't keep going." Tears began falling, "I made an oath to do no harm and here I was not only causing harm but for what?" He looked at Aine, his gaze pleading "Please, Miss Satterfield…Aine….please allow me to apologize for…."
"Fuck that!" Aine slammed her hands on the table and stormed out of the room, causing everyone in the room to jump.
Shouta followed her out the door barely catching sight of her as she rounded the end of the corridor headed towards the parking lot. He walked down the corridor at a steady but unhurried pace. She needed the time to cool off.
As he left the police station, he saw Aine leaning against his car – arms and feet crossed. Her head was leaned back looking up at the stars. He said not a word but leaned against the car next to her.
"So, what was that all about? Considering your history, I wouldn't expect this kind of reaction from you." he looked over at her.
"It's completely illogical." she looked down at the ground in front of her crossed feet. "Like you said, with my history this is actually a pretty minor 'betrayal' but…" she sighed heavily. "Look, it's just….I've never really talked about this before, but hospitals have always been a safe space for me. Ever since I was a little girl."
Shouta raised an eyebrow, she continued, "I know, for someone who spent most of their formative years being poked, prodded and examined you would think I would never want to step foot in a hospital."
Her eyes slowly raised back up to the stars, he silently waited for her to continue.
"When I was little, my parents always took me to the hospital where they worked for any assessments or treatments. The staff doted on me with treats, games, all kinds of things the other kids wouldn't have been allowed. They always made sure I understood that I was safe, even if the machines looked big and scary no one was going to allow anything to hurt me. Over the years, I associated the hospital with safety. Bad things happened to you when you left the hospital. In my young mind, my father died because he left the hospital, my uncle couldn't mistreat me when I was in the hospital." she let her head roll to the side to look at Shouta, "See, I told you it was completely illogical."
Shouta shook his head, "You were a kid. Illogical is the default setting."
Aine huffed a rueful laugh, "Yeah."
"So is that why you reacted to his name that way?"
She closed her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest, "Only partially. Logically, I know that Garaki has eyes almost everywhere. I should have expected him to have someone inside the hospitals. No," she shook her head and looked straight ahead, "this….what Taketa did….that was the first time someone used my CIPA against me."
She shoved her hands into the pockets of her hoodie, "He knew my condition, knew that I would be more susceptible to the side effects of pain medication if my quirk was suppressed. He used knowledge about my own body against me." She shuddered, "No one has ever done that, not even that asshole calling the shots."
The door to the police station opened and Tsukauchi emerged, looking around the parking lot before spotting the two of them. "Eraser, Miss Satterfield!" He made his way over to them, "Thank you for coming and helping. He gave us more information about their operation than we've been able to uncover the last couple of months." he stopped in front of them, "Unfortunately, he doesn't know where Dr. Garaki currently is. Taketa is being transferred to the lower security levels of Tartarus as we speak."
"May he rot there." Aine muttered under her breath, just barely loud enough for Shouta to hear.
Tsukauchi looked with concern at Aine, "Miss Satterfield, I hope this was not too much for you. On a positive note, I feel confident enough that the threat to you has passed that I am going to be passing on a recommendation that your restrictions to UA campus be lifted. I'll notify you as soon as all of the paperwork has gone through. You'll still need to travel with an escort until we know for sure that they are no longer targeting you, but you will at least be able to move more freely around the city."
Shouta opened his mouth to inform Tsukauchi of the Commission's restrictions, but Aine's feather light touch on his arm stopped him as she stood away from the car.
"Thank you, Detective." she gave a small bow, "I look forward to hearing from you soon."
Tsukauchi returned her bow, "I will get that paperwork started tonight for you. Go on home and get some rest." He gave a sly smile to Shouta.
Shouta rolled his eyes, "Come on, let's get back before it gets too late."
Aine gave the detective a short wave as she let herself in to the passenger side of the car.
As they were driving away, she turned to Shouta "He knows doesn't he."
A/N – I know I usually post these at the beginning of the chapter, but I thought I would change it up this chapter!
Wow! We are almost to 2000 views! Never in a million years did I think I would ever see the day that a story of mine hit this number. It's all thanks to you, dear readers! Every view, like, bookmark and follow is so appreciated, and I hope you all know that you are truly the heartbeat behind this fic.
Please comment below if you have any questions or comments, I love to see how you feel about this fic in your own words.
I will be starting to post "Unconditionally" soon, I do need to warn that it will have a lot more Content Warnings and Trigger Warnings than this fic. It will also be rated higher due to the subject matter (discrimination, abuse, abandonment and some slight body horror moments). Again, it is meant to be a prelude to this fic but is by no means a necessity to read prior to reading "In Time".
On a personal note, I have officially graduated! YAY! Hopefully, this will allow me to have a more steady release schedule for chapters. Thank you all for sticking with me during the sporadic posting!
Love and Light!
Kahelle Tetra