A/N - Hello everyone!
I would love to see your predictions on which one of the UA kiddos the doctor could have his sights on.
Coming up we will have a bit more angst, some fluff and even a scavenger hunt of sorts! Stay tuned and I look forward to chatting with you all in the comments!
Love and Light!
Kahelle
Chapter 23 – Who Am I?
There were 23 books on the bookshelf.
156 stars were visible through the window.
The analog clock was off by a quarter of a second every other minute.
It took 12 steps to walk the length of the room and 10 for the width.
And she had counted 1,253 sheep before she gave up and laid in her bed staring at the shadows dancing across her ceiling.
It had been shortly before midnight when they made it back to UA from the police station. She had tried everything she could think of to quiet her mind and sleep but no matter what she tried sleep evaded her. Aine rolled over to open the drawer beside her bed, pulling out the burner phone.
"Emma, it's Dochloite. Are you awake?" Hitting send, she pulled back the covers and started for the kitchen. If she was going to be awake, she was going to have some tea at least.
The reply came back a short few moments later, "Wenn das Dochloite ist, wo haben wir uns dann getroffen?"
"Sie haben eine ganze Reihe von Schreibtischen umgeworfen, nachdem Sie in die falsche Klasse gegangen waren. Dann war es dir so peinlich, dass du für den Rest des Semesters im Unterricht geblieben bist, anstatt es zuzugeben." Aine grinned remembering the day Emma had admitted that she was a law student and had stayed in that psychology class all semester purely because of that disastrous first day.
Immediately, her phone rang.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL HELL, AINE!? I thought you two said the Commission was tracing your phone!"
Aine put the phone back to her ear from where she had pulled it away for Emma's outburst. "Easy, Emma. This isn't my main phone, it's a burner. I'll explain later but it's from someone I trust."
A sigh of exasperation, "Fine fine fine. What are you still doing up anyways? It's nearly 3am."
"I could ask you the same thing. They had a breakthrough in my kidnapping case, we got back from the police station around midnight." Aine gave a brief rundown of what had transpired in the interrogation room.
"Oh hon, I'm sorry you had to go through that alone. You should have called; Chris and I would have been there in a heartbeat!"
"It's ok, I wasn't alone." she could almost feel Emma's smirk through the phone, "What are you two still doing up?" she quickly detoured to keep the questions at bay.
"I'm the only one up, Chris went to bed just about an hour ago. Time change is still messing with our sleep schedule." As if on cue, Emma yawned.
Aine smiled, "I won't keep you too long, I just wanted to ask a favor. A legal favor." the silence on the other end prompted her to continue, "I need you to see if there are legal avenues we can use if we believe a school is withholding information about former students. Especially regarding allegations of mistreatment."
She heard the blonde hum in thought for a moment, "If there are charges being pressed, you could push for a subpoena but that could motivate them to destroy the files rather than turn them over – if they haven't already. Most entities would rather face the monetary fine for 'accidentally' losing the evidence rather than risk the PR nightmare. Without formal charges though, there really isn't much you can do legally to force them to turn anything over."
Aine pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "Shit, that was what I was afraid of."
"If you had someone that was willing to talk or provide the files from the inside, that would potentially work and have a stronger standing if charges were pursued."
The kettle started to squeal from the kitchen, she pressed the phone to her ear using her shoulder as she removed it from the heat, "So, if someone provided the files to us we could use them? So long as the person gave them willingly?"
"Potentially, yes. It can't be done under coercion, or the entire thing could be thrown out."
"But as long as the person providing it is not under duress, it doesn't matter how the files are retrieved right?"
"Aine Satterfield, you get that thought out of you head!"
Aine grabbed the thermometer plopping it into the mug, "I don't know what you are talking about. No thoughts in this head whatsoever."
"I know you better than that." another long sigh "Look, yes you could get the files yourself and it would be admissible to press charges or whatever you are wanting to do with them. But…and this is a big one… if you were to get caught, there wouldn't be anything to be done to get you out of it. I don't think even the Embassy would be able to untangle whatever net they catch you in."
It was Aine's turn to sigh, "What do I do then, Emma? I have two students, that I know of, who have been harassed and bullied for being quirkless. If the schools are hiding the information about these two, how many more students are still being targeted and just never heard about?" She leaned against the counter, "I can't just do nothing."
"Give me a few days. One to brush up on the quirkless discrimination laws and two to see what loopholes we can find about your predicament because, let's be honest, you can't do much behind those walls."
Aine knew that Emma was right, even with the newfound freedom Nedzu had gifted her – she still couldn't do much without risking everything, "Fine, I suppose I can sit on this until the weekend. I'll call or message tomorrow when I can. Try to get some sleep."
Another yawn from Emma's line, "You too. Aine?"
"Hmm?"
"You know I love you, right?"
Aine smiled to herself, "I know. I love you guys too."
"How many cups is that today?"
"Not nearly enough." Aine mused into her third cup of the morning from her spot cross-legged on the couch in the UA teacher's lounge. Nemuri finished pouring her own mug and joined her on the couch.
"How late did you stay out training last night?" she sipped her coffee, her eyes glinting mischievously, "Or is there another reason you are on your….how many did you say again?"
"I didn't and the only other reason was because Tsukauchi had a break in my kidnapping case. So I was at the police station until pretty late last night." Aine waved her hand dismissively, "I think it was close to midnight when Shouta and I made it back."
Nemuri shifted her body so she was facing Aine, her legs gracefully crossed, "What did they say? Have they figured out who kept you held for so long? Or why?"
Her mug was now regretfully empty, Aine turned the empty cup over in her hand staring at the final drops of coffee swirling around the bottom of it, "Mostly. Good news is they have turned their sights off of me."
"And the bad news?"
Aine locked eyes with Nemuri, "They are targeting one of the kids here at UA, but we don't know who. Shouta and Tsukauchi were going to talk to Nedzu about rescinding off campus activities for the students until we can find out who it is they are after…." her cellphone started beeping, Sasaki's emergency signal, "I've gotta go!"
She handed her mug to Nemuri and bolted out the door, following the locator ping to the 2nd floor boys' bathroom.
Knocking on the door, she opened it enough to call out "Staff, is anyone in here?"
"It's just me in here Miss Satterfield." Sasaki's voice echoed off the tile, Aine opened the door the rest of the way and walked into the bathroom. As she turned the corner around the stalls, she saw him sitting with his legs drawn up to his chest against the wall. The device that she and Power Loader had given to him was held in his hands. "Be careful…I…I couldn't help it."
As she drew closer, she saw the puddle of vomit on the ground and careful stepped around it. "It's ok Sasaki. We will get someone to clean it up later. What happened?" She slid down the wall to sit next to the boy, he was staring down at his feet.
"Ikeda…Ikeda is here." he pulled his legs closer to his body, as though he was trying to make himself smaller, "I was walking in to head to the support lab, and he was there in the hallway with his friends. I tried….I tried just ignoring and walking by, but he looked at me and …." his face began to flush bright red, "and he…."
Aine gently placed her hand on his arm, "Sasaki, I want you to take some deep breaths for me." She modeled the breathing, lightly squeezing his arm to cue the intake of each breath. After a few moments, his color began to return to normal.
He wiped his face with his hand, "He didn't say a word, just glared at me. The door to the support lab wasn't opening right away, I didn't even notice that everyone else had left except…." he winced, "I didn't even hear him come up behind me. He put his hand on the door to keep it from opening and told me….he told me…"
"Keep breathing, Sasaki. I'm right here with you."
Sasaki nodded, "He asked me when I was going to stop pretending to be someone. That people like Midoriya and Kirishima only liked me out of pity." He looked up at Aine, tears pooling in his eyes, "I thought he wasn't supposed to come back until Monday at least. Why is he here?"
Aine sighed, "I'm sorry, I thought that too. I don't know why he is back but I'm going to find out." She stood and offered her hand to Sasaki, "Now, let's get you cleaned up. Do you want to go back to class? I can write you a note if you would like to take the day off. Power Loader would understand."
Sasaki shook his head as he accepted the offered hand, "That's alright. I…I think I would like to do something to distract myself. Thank you for.." he shook the device before putting it back in his pocket.
"Anytime! That's why we gave it to you. I'm going to step out while you do whatever you need and then I'll walk with you to class."
He nodded and Aine stepped out of the bathroom, offering a friendly smile as she let the door close behind her. She pulled out her phone (the burner was safely tucked away in her apartment) and sent a message to Shouta to let Kaminari know that she was tied up but would come and collect him from class when she was ready for their appointment. After a few short moments, Sasaki emerged from the bathroom, and they headed towards the support lab.
The hallways were empty, Aine didn't remember hearing the bell while they were in the restroom, but it appeared that everyone had already gone to class. The only sounds were their footsteps against the tile floors. She glanced at the boy walking beside her, his head down staring at the ground in front of them. Aine didn't press him to talk, allowing him to have his space while they walked.
Stopping in front of the door, Aine put her hand on Sasaki's shoulder. He looked up, his still-red-rimmed eyes looking from her hand to her face. Aine followed his gaze and gave his shoulder a slight squeeze, "My door is open anytime. If you need to take a break or talk, just knock ok?" He nodded before offering a weak smile. She smiled reassuringly back, letting her hand fall back to her side as he pulled the door open and disappeared into the room.
As much as Aine wanted to turn on her heels and march straight down to Nedzu's office, she had responsibilities to her other students as well. Taking a breath to calm her own raw emotions, she started for Class 1-A.
Kaminari was practically vibrating with excitement by the time they reached her office. Immediately, he plopped down on the couch and rummaged through his backpack. Aine watched him as she set down her own belongings and started the session timer.
"I know it's in here somewhere…." he murmured as he dug through what looked like a wad of papers in his bag. "YES! Here! Look!" he jumped up and waved the paper triumphantly in his hand before handing it to her. A large red "76" at the top.
His proud grin stretched from ear to ear, "I used those thingies we talked about during study time with Bakugou and then during the test I remembered what you said about taking the test in chunks and drinking lots of water and using the fidget and…" the electric blonde continued speaking a blur of words as he began to pace excitedly.
"You seem really proud, Kaminari and you should be!" Aine smiled and handed the paper back to him, "You've worked really hard for those points."
"Thanks Miss S!"
"Let's keep building on that, today I would like to…" she was interrupted by the sound of the school's PA system chiming.
"Attention student body, please make your way to the courtyard for an urgent announcement. All staff, please report as well. Thank you." Nedzu's voice rang over the intercoms.
Aine turned off the timer, "Hopefully, this doesn't take too long. Go on and join your class, Kaminari. If there is still time, we will pick up here when we get back." Kaminari shoved the paper back into his backpack and jogged out the door.
The students and staff filtered out of the building into the main courtyard, the staff quickly took their places around the outside edges of the mass. The students all seemed to understand exactly where their rank and file belonged as each class occupied their own space on the grass. At the front of the congregated students, a small concrete platform had been erected. In the center of the platform stood Nedzu with a microphone in front of him. To his right was Tsukauchi and to his left….
Aine froze as she recognized the woman she had only seen through a computer screen - the HPSC President, herself.
"Thank you for your quick response everyone! I'm afraid that I have a bit of unpleasant news for everyone. Detective Tsukauchi and the Hero Public Safety Commission have received word that a credible threat has been placed on one of our students."
Murmurs began to sprinkle through the crowd, Nedzu held his paws up to silence them.
"Unfortunately, the investigation is just beginning, and we do not yet know the specifics of the threat. Under the recommendations of the police department and the Commission, we have made the decision to put a hold on off-campus passes for the time being."
The student body erupted in gasps and whispers – "Can they do that?" "I was supposed to go home this weekend." "I bet it's one of those kids from 1A again." "Why don't they just keep them on campus?" "My parents are going to flip a gasket."
"Now now students, I know this seems extreme, but I assure you it is for everyone's safety. Your parents will still be allowed to visit on weekends and special events, and the detective assures me that once the investigation is concluded we will be able to return to business as usual. I thank you in advance for your cooperation." He gave a small bow and dismissed the students back to class. The crowd began to disperse, several still mumbling their protests and accusations of who could be the cause of their confinement.
Aine hung back, allowing the mass of student bodies to filter back into the school before following. She felt a presence behind her even before she heard the footsteps through the grass.
"I received paperwork from the police department requesting that we rescind your restriction to this campus." The woman stopped behind her as though to walk past, her voice barely above a whisper. "This new revelation changes nothing, Miss Satterfield."
She started walking away then turned to add over her shoulder, "We will still be watching."