A/N - This chapter was so much fun to write! Also, this fic has officially reached almost 3500 views! I am still in utter disbelief that we have reached that number, you are all so absolutely amazing and I wish I could reach through the screen and hug each and every one of you!
On a personal note, I got to go to my second ever ComicCon this weekend and got to meet Christopher Wehkamp :) Even got an autograph :)
Lots of love and light to each of you!
Kahelle
Chapter 30 - Mirror
Aine lazily traced her fingers over the tapestry of scars across Shouta's chest, "These are new." Her dark curls cascaded over his arm and spilled onto the floor as her head laid on his shoulder.
He didn't respond verbally but she felt him gently pull her closer, the heat radiating between their skin. Her hand stilled and rested on the most familiar scar – a broken-legged star shape that bloomed across his chest. She felt her face heat as the remembrance of gentle kisses caressing each of her own scars flitted across her mind.
Closing her eyes, she let herself drift away into a world where nothing else existed except for the feel of carpet, the warmth of skin touching skin and the smell of lemongrass soap. After several moments, she felt a soft kiss on her forehead, "I should go." She opened her eyes as he shifted to look at the wall clock, "It's almost Eri's bedtime and I don't want her to..."
Aine silenced him with a soft kiss, "You don't have to explain." She smiled as she sat up on one elbow, "At least this time it's not a mad scramble because your two roommates walked in the door."
He huffed out a small laugh as they began gathering and putting on the clothing that had been discarded in a path from the doorway. As Shouta was buttoning the last of the buttons on his shirt, Aine walked over to where the blue checkered tie lay just inside the doorway. She grinned as she picked it up and turned holding it out to him. He reached out to take it from her and she playfully pulled it just out of reach causing him to reach over her to try and grab it. As he did, she grabbed the waist band of his slacks and pulled him to her - kissing him as she let him grab the tie.
Shouta shook his head to himself smiling as he draped the tie around his neck, leaving it untied. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers. "Come back to the apartment with me."
Without breaking the connection, Aine gently shook her head, "Not tonight, but tomorrow I promise I'll be there."
He pulled backwards, "You aren't going to do something…"
"Reckless?" she gave him a raised eyebrow, "No. I promise, nothing like that. Just some things I need to take care of tonight so that I am completely free tomorrow." She gently smoothed an imaginary fold on his shirt collar.
His eyes seemed to darken as they captured her's, "Good, because I think taking a swan dive off of a building fulfills your reckless quota for the day."
Aine couldn't help the chuckle that erupted from her as she raised her hand in a mock pledge "No more diving off of buildings for at least 24 hours. Got it!"
Shouta sighed, "I love you."
"I love you, too." She sidestepped, allowing him to open the door. "I'll see you tomorrow."
As soon as the door clicked closed behind him, Aine locked the door and went to her room. She tested her shoulder, feeling for the clicking sensation that indicated she reached her range of motion. Recovery Girl outdid herself. She thought as she reached almost the full range before she felt the slight hitch that told her to stop. Moments like this were where she felt that her inability to feel pain was a blessing. Other than her own willpower, not having the pain to distract her meant she could continue almost as normal – with appropriate caution.
Aine walked over to where Nemuri had deposited her belongings after helping her home. She dug out the laptop and opened it on her bed before going to her nightstand and grabbing the thumb drive of information.
She opened up the files containing contact information for people at Corusca Middle School.
"They are opting not to pick up the case."
"Not just someone, everyone."
"Without first-hand evidence…everything is dismissed."
"Aine, this is how things are for the quirkless. The sooner you learn it the better."
"It never changes!"
"Most threats are not put on paper."
"It's never going to end….I'm sorry."
"Force them to hear the voices of their society's victims."
She scrolled through the contacts until she found the address she was looking for. Grabbing her visor, she slipped out her window and disappeared into the night.
"PLEASE! NO!" The man scrambled down the hallway away from the figure approaching him. "I don't have anything of value! Please….please….I'll give you anything you want just don't hurt me!" He cowered with his arms covering his head as he slid down against the wall.
The moonlight reflected and flashed over the facemask of his pursuer as they slowly stalked towards him. "You have access to information that I need." The mechanical voice was cold and even as they knelt down face to face with the sniveling and terrified man. "Give me what I need and look the other way and I won't ever bother you again."
"I-information? But I'm just a secretary….please…I-I don't even have my own office!" he pleaded into the image of his own face reflecting back to him. "For heaven's sake, they put me in a closet!"
"Yes, but as the secretary you have the keys to the entire school. Correct?"
The man nodded, "Y-yes."
"Including the principal's office, correct?" the figure put a hand on the wall behind him, leaning even closer in towards the secretary's trembling form.
"Yes."
"Good. Now, listen carefully. I'm not going to bring any harm to you as long as you follow my instructions to the letter. You are going to give me your keys. When you arrive at school in the morning, you will have 'misplaced' them. Notify authorities or anyone at the school that I was here tonight, and I will return." The moonlight glinted off the edge of the mask as the figure tapped the dangling knife blade hanging from their waist with their other hand, "And I won't be quite as cordial, do I make myself clear?"
The man nodded fervently as he fished his keyring out, holding it towards the threatening figure with a trembling hand.
As the masked figure stood, they tossed the keys up and caught them with one hand before patting the secretary on the head causing him to squeeze his eyes shut. "I'm glad we had this talk. Goodnight."
When he dared to open his eyes again, he was met with only the shadows in the moonlight.
Aine looked around the perimeter of Corusca Middle School, making a mental note of the camera locations. There were two set towards the front door and one on each corner of the building. She carefully picked her way through the foliage surrounding the school until she reached the backside of the building. "Jackpot." Her mechanical voice whispered back to her. A delivery door with only a lone camera aimed out away from the door.
Checking to make sure there were no other security measures in place, she moved silently across the small parking lot until she stood right underneath the camera. She reached into one of the hidden pockets on her suit and pulled out the device Nedzu had given her. Pressing the button on the top, she waited for the green indicator light to stop blinking and made a mental note of the time. 20 minutes to get in and out.
Aine took the keys and made quick work of unlocking the door, slipping inside, and closing it gently. The room had no windows, making the inside pitch black. She could see a small sliver of pale light where there must be another door. Feeling her way across the room, she made her way to the door and stepped out into a hallway bathed in light from the combination of streetlamps and moonlight through floor-to-ceiling windows.
She made her way quickly down through the hallways past classroom after classroom, taking care to avoid the security cameras so as not to waste any charges of her scrambler. Finally, she stopped in front of the office she had come all this way to find. Quickly unlocking the door, she found herself in a large office with a large ornate wooden desk with a tall-backed leather office chair behind it.
"Okay, now – where is the camera access?" Aine mumbled to herself as she looked around the office. Just to the side from the desk was a very basic, non-descript door. After taking a few minutes to find the correct key, she was able to unlock the door and step inside.
The room was lit with the glow of several video screens, all showing the views from the various security cameras around the school. There were two computer screens side-by-side on a desk in front of the video feeds. On one screen there was a continuous status readout of each camera and on the other was a basic computer desktop.
This had better work.
Aine sat down in front of the computer and started looking through the desktop files, her fingers flying over keys as she searched for the dates that had been omitted in her information request.
Damn it! There's just too much to comb through and I just don't have enough time! She slammed her fists down on either side of the keyboard in frustration. Okay, okay, calm down. If you can't go through them here, she pulled out the blank thumb drive she had brought with her, take everything and sort through it later.
She inserted the thumb drive and selected all of the camera files from a three month span she knew included some of the dates she needed. It took several minutes for the files to download onto the drive, only leaving her a matter of a couple of minutes to leave the building before the effects of the scrambler ended. Aine grabbed the drive out of the computer and closed all evidence that someone had been fishing around before quickly leaving the room, locking the door behind her.
As she rushed down the hallway, she made sure to drop the keys on the floor right beside a classroom door for either the secretary or someone to "find" in the morning. Aine sprinted through the rest of the hallway until she reached to storage room she had used to enter the building.
Aine quietly opened the door, sliding through the opening and pressing herself against the wall underneath the camera. Quickly, she sprinted across the parking lot only looking back when she was in the darkened safety of the trees surrounding the school. She breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw the green light click on moments after she looked at it.
She held up the thumb drive, Now let's hope this was all worth it. Sliding it back into the hidden pocket of her suit, she turned towards home.
Aizawa's last memory had been of a white-hot flash and searing pain, knowing full well that a woman who had just tried to kill him would now have her chance.
He didn't expect to wake up again.
As he blinked to clear his vision, he was looking at a star filled sky and the realization that he couldn't move. It felt like a weight was sitting in his chest, he coughed to get it to let loose.
"Easy…you got burned pretty bad. I blocked your pain receptors for the moment and stopped most of the bleeding. You'll need a hospital though." Blink's face materialized over his and he realized, he didn't have his visor on anymore. "Sorry for the paralyzing thingy, it was the only way I could keep you still while I cleaned the wound."
As she spoke, he felt his limbs begin to tingle as they came back to life. Slowly, he sat up resting one hand on his knee and looked at his torso. The shirt had been cut and a large, thick square covering of bandages from his first aid pouch was plastered to his chest.
His phone laid on the ground beside him, the screen indicating that the emergency alert had been sent out. Blink had scooted back while he sat up and now sat cross-legged about 6 feet away. The knife she had just …was it moments?…. before tried to kill him with sat discarded to the side.
"Why?" her voice was so soft, he almost missed the question.
"What?"
She leaned forward so that her elbows rested on her knees as she spoke louder, "Why did you let me go? You could have, and should have if we are honest, turned me in three times over. So why didn't you?"
They could hear sirens in the distance.
He grunted as he shifted his weight, "I've not been a pro very long, but I've seen enough to know that nothing is black and white and…." He hissed as a spear of pain shot through his chest.
"Here." Blink shifted closer, reaching towards him with her eyes glowing a soft purple. As soon as her hand touched his chest, he felt the pain melt away. "That should hold until the ambulance gets here." She stood to leave.
"Wait." She paused, cocking her head slightly waiting for him to continue, "With that quirk, you could be a doctor or a nurse. Why be a villain?"
He could almost see the haunting sadness in her eyes as she turned away from him, "People do what they are good at, Eraser." In the blink of an eye, she had disappeared into the night just as the roof access door flew open flooding the rooftop with first responders.