Learning to Trust

"Women are like tricks by sleight of hand,
Which, to admire, we should not understand.
-William Congreve

Chapter 33: Sleight of Hand

The eye was directly over the school.

Toshi sat in the borrowed cruiser as near as he dared, studying the area. Wind howled around him. Straight ahead, near the edge of the UA Barrier, branches were getting ripped off of trees outside of the campus, but Toshi could also just see the tops of a few taller trees located behind the gates.

They weren't moving.

The hail had slowed down, but now the water was rising as it had done the last time he'd faced Floodgate. It seemed as though Floodgate's power followed a pattern.

Toshi narrowed his eyes. And that meant that the water would rise for a few minutes before the temperature started to drop. If this quirk did work in a pattern, then he didn't have long before the cold would be too much for him. When he and Midnight had fought, he'd really started freezing about fifteen to twenty minutes in, and the worst had only come at close range to Floodgate.

Assuming that Shifter can even use that ultimate Deep Freeze move… If not, I may not even have to worry about it. I only have about twenty to thirty minutes anyway. This might actually work…

Toshi's heart would have lifted at that thought except for the most obvious concern—If the eye was over UA, then most likely the Shifter was inside.

How?

Only students and staff could get past the UA Barrier. It was impenetrable…

Suddenly the cruiser shook as though struck. The water was rising, flowing past the car in a shallow, but forceful stream, pushing past the door, and one of the branches had been slammed into the cruiser's side.

No time to worry about technicalities now. I need to get in there and find Shifter before she takes the place down.

He was about to transform when another thought struck him, causing him to pause. If the Barrier is down, then that's how Shifter could have gotten in. But if it's still active, will it let All Might in? As far as Toshi understood, the Barrier strictly did a facial scan and connected it to the ID he carried. All Might had not been scanned into the system, only Yagi Toshinori. If he transformed now and the Barrier was still up, he may be forced to change form in the open just to get in. He couldn't risk being seen.

Best bet is going to be to get inside as Yagi and then find a building to transform in where I can't be seen… just in case.

With that thought, he opened the door, for once grateful for the noise of the rain and the wind and the dark cover of night hiding him, and slipped outside. He left the cruiser door open, and sloshed as quietly as he could through the rising river, avoiding debris as much as possible, to the massive entryway in the UA Barrier. Other than slipping a couple of times in the water, completely soaking himself, he made it with little trouble. The eye was tight enough that the worst wind should hit him right when he crossed inside. He hoped that he could use the gate itself as a brace to get through.

He stopped, shivering, against the cement outer fence, breathing hard and trying to keep his footing in the rising water. It had been a slow process, but nothing like it had been when he'd struggled with Midnight to the park. It was almost like the eye wall was somehow weaker than it had been then.

This feels too easy…

He looked back up at the barrier, surprised to note that the winds had moved, no longer thrashing at him as fiercely as before. It was almost… calm... Am I past the eye wall? She must be on the move, then. Hard to tell what direction she's going or how close, since I don't even know how tight she can make the eye, but odds are she's near the gates doing a perimeter check.

He breathed quietly, scanning the area as best he could while swiping his wet hair out of his eyes and wiping water from his vision. It was too dark to properly see anything.

Then he heard it—a quiet splashing behind him, just irregular enough to sound unnatural.

He braced himself, the hairs on the back of his soaking arms standing on end as he felt the figure approach more than anything. He froze, waiting, knowing that if someone was coming, he couldn't properly transform here in full view. It would have to be Yagi.

He held his breath. A moment longer.

Now.

He spun on his attacker, snapping one large hand out to grab the slim arm of the other and slam them into the wall. It took less than a moment, old instincts kicking in and working perfectly, even with this wasted body. They were face-to-face before Toshi even processed who he'd grabbed.

Yamada.

Immediately Toshi released him, staggering back a step, relief flooding him.

He's alive. He hadn't been aware of how worried he'd actually been until that moment—now if only they could find Aizawa and Midnight. He'd like to have his old partner back.

"Yagi?" Yamada hissed over the wind. Only he could whisper loudly enough to be heard over this noise. "What are you doing out here? You were supposed to stay at the station."

The wind was strengthening again. He could feel it tear at his hair and clothing and hear its approaching howl. Worse, he could feel the steady drop in temperature.

Rain… hail… rain and flood… On to stage four—freeze… Perfect. We have maybe fifteen minutes before it's too cold to do anything.

Toshi gritted his teeth, swiping his long, wet hair out of his eyes, and scanning the shadows outside of the school. No sign of anyone, but that didn't mean much. "We lost contact with both of you almost an hour ago."

Yamada nodded. "Yeah. The storm's screwed up my cell service. And the phones on campus haven't been too useful either. I tried calling out once before I did a perimeter check, but no dice. I think Nezu's been trying to contact you, too. You came out here for that?"

Toshi's expression darkened, and he moved in closer so he could be sure that only Yamada would hear. "The kid's missing. He took off around the same time we lost contact with you. We're pretty sure he came here."

"So you're fetching him and bringing him back?"

Toshi didn't answer.

"Yagi, man, you aren't in any shape to—"

Toshinori huffed in frustration. "I know, but it's more complicated than that. Naomasa and I were going over the stolen quirks. I don't have time to go into detail, but she's after you, Yamada. You and Midnight and Aizawa. She's got quirks to take all of you down."

Yamada froze. "And what does she have to take you down, Yagi?"

"The cold." His voice was flat and his expression hard. And you. All of you. If she gets you because I got you tangled up in my mess, I'll never forgive myself. He could feel himself shutting down. This was why he didn't get close to people. He turned abruptly away from Yamada before he could reply—before his face gave away anything he couldn't hide.

"Yagi…"

The wind was blowing harder now, almost knocking them down into the water. Yamada was actually forced against the wall, and Toshi only managed to remain standing because he'd been prepared for this shift in weather and had braced himself as he'd felt the winds return. Shifter had moved again, making the eye to settle back in place. "No time. We need to get in there while we're still in the eye. We can talk inside. You said the power's down. Is the Barrier still working?"

"Always. Nezu has it on some special generator."

"Then how did she get in there?" Toshi hissed, sloshing toward the main gate, bracing himself against the solid wall of the campus.

A hand reached out to grab him around the arm. "Yagi, all she needs is someone's face and their ID. You said the kid came here? He's an easy target for her."

Something cold settled in the pit of Toshi's stomach. "We'll worry about it when we get inside, then. We just need to find her before she causes any more damage."

He stopped in front of the barrier. Glancing back at Yamada, he yanked a lanyard from under his soaking shirt where he now kept his ID, and flashed at the Barrier's eye, allowing the program to read his face and the card.

Yamada did the same.

Smoothly the doors of the Barrier opened to darkness.

The men stepped inside, pushing through the last of the wind. The worst of it was finally behind them. They were in the eye.

The Barrier snapped shut behind them with a clang.

Yagi froze at that, scanning again. The near darkness he and Yamada had been talking in had helped adjust his eyes, but this was an even deeper blackness—all operations other than the Barrier itself seemed to be shut down.

The campus was utterly still.

"Where are all the heroes?" he hissed. "Isn't there anyone looking for him?"

"No one here but our team, our target, Nezu, and probably Recovery Girl."

"And young Tetsuya."

"Yeah…" Yamada sighed. "We didn't realize how quickly Shifter was working until it was too hard to get a message out. I was hoping to get a signal while doing a perimeter sweep just outside the gates, but I still couldn't call out. Nezu was going to try to contact you from a phone in Recovery Girl's office, but I guess it didn't work."

"I need to find a safe place to change," Toshi muttered, sending Yamada a significant look.

"Medical Building," Yamada replied promptly. "It's the only one that is on the same grid as the Barrier. There's power in there, so we can access security cameras and make sure you aren't seen."

Yagi nodded. Not ideal. Recovery Girl's office is halfway across campus, but power means heat, too, so if we can move the fight there, we might have a better chance. Better yet, if Nezu is still there, we might be able to add his quirk to our brainstorming.

"We stick together though," Yamada continued. "You need someone to watch the cameras for you—and to watch your back if you run out of time."

"I just need one punch."

Yamada grabbed his arm, holding firm. "And she just needs one touch, right? We stick together. That's final."

Toshi opened his mouth to reply, but found no words. Finally, he managed a sheepish smile. "Yes, sir."

With that they moved as quickly as possible to the medical building, staying in the shadows as much as possible. Toshi kept alert for any sounds or light that might indicate Shifter's location—or that of any of their friends—but all he heard was the howl of wind closing further in on the gate. Odds were that she was near the center of campus again.

That would make things more difficult, since that was where the Medical Building was located.

"Dammit…" he hissed through clenched teeth.

Yamada glanced over at Toshi. "Something I should know?"

"All Might fought Floodgate before," he responded in a low voice, cautiously using the third person in case they were overheard. "There's a pattern to his quirk, and I'm pretty sure Shifter will use it the same way: rain, hail, flooding, and cold. The cold is actually the worst part. Floodgate has a Deep Freeze ultimate move that's effective at close range. I don't know if Shifter can activate it, but if she can, then getting into her range is even more dangerous. That Deep Freeze managed to incapacitate All Might. He needed the heat from Midnight's quirk to even manage one punch." He stumbled in the darkness against a bench near the path. He hadn't even noticed that they'd strayed slightly off of the paved walkway onto the campus's perfectly manicured lawn. It was already cold enough that the ground was starting to freeze solid. Not good.

"So we avoid her for now and pull in All Might," Yamada replied, "Then we find Midnight or Aizawa—either of them will be able to mitigate the cold for us. We can take her down after we've built a team."

It was getting lighter now, and surprisingly warmer. Toshi paused for a moment, puzzled. The roar of the wind seemed to have faded also, but that could just be their distance from the Barrier. He squinted at the buildings ahead. The few lights that shone in and around the Medical Building lit the chilly air, making a thin layer of fuzzy frost on the dull silver lamp posts nearby glow softly. They would be there soon.

Toshinori's eyes narrowed. Even with the slightly warmer air, his breath was starting to become visible, and a deep chill was seeping into his bones, stiffening his joints. Already starting… He glanced over at Yamada who seemed cold, but otherwise fine. For me, at least, he amended, a touch bitterly. This fragile form struggled more than he liked with cold. But he just couldn't risk wasting All Might now.

"Yagi?"

Toshi shook his head. "The eye wall seems to be running along the Barrier. She has to be at the center of campus…"

"…Where we're going…" Yamada nodded, suddenly understanding. "I see the problem. So, what do we do, big guy?"

Toshi snorted at that, shrugging his thin shoulders. "Your idea's good. I'd say we stick to that plan for now and try not to be seen." He shot a sharp look at Yamada, who was only faintly visible next to him in the darkness. "Just make sure she doesn't touch you. One touch is all Shifter needs to borrow a quirk."

"Right."

"And be careful. Naomasa and I are pretty sure she's been stockpiling quirks. She has some that can neutralize your—"

He was cut off abruptly by the sound of someone approaching.

Yamada must have heard it, too, because the man immediately tensed by Toshi's side, shifting slightly in front of Toshinori to block him from the threat.

Toshi's mouth formed a hard line, unsure if he was grateful to the kind hearted hero for trying to protect him while he was in his weaker form, or simply annoyed that the man felt he needed the protection. He tensed for a fight as well.

A female form materialized from the shadows near the building, a faint smile on her face. "Present Mic," she purred coolly, stepping under a pool of light from one of the windows, a hand on her hip. "I see you picked up some company." She smirked. The light from the building shone off of her glasses.

Midnight. Toshi felt an oddly lightheaded relief at seeing her.

Yamada broke out into a grin, stepping forward. "Hey, hey! Good to see you're still kickin'." His voice was relieved, but his posture remained tense, ready for any imminent attack by their enemy.

She nodded, eyes again shooting with confusion to Toshi. "What's he doing here?" she asked cautiously.

"Couldn't let you have all the fun," Yagi managed with a small smile, answering for himself. He also remained tense, though. He studied her carefully. She seemed to be all right—mostly uninjured except for a long thin cut along her face and another on her hand.

She nodded, but didn't return the smile, and he got the strangest feeling that she wasn't pleased with his presence. Inwardly he shrugged. Not surprising. She's probably as worried as Yamada is that I'm going to kill myself here. Can't really blame them, honestly… Knowing that it was a logical concern really didn't make him feel any better though. Something felt off.

Yamada shook his head at her. "Hey," he hissed, in a surprisingly quiet voice for him. "Drop your volume. Our target is nearby."

But she just flashed a grin. "Don't worry. I've already neutralized the problem." She motioned to a prone form in the shadows, lying in a heap on the frosty ground.

Yamada's eyes popped open and a grin split his face. "Seriously? You mean it's over? Just like that?"

She smirked. "What can I say? We women just have a special sleight of hand that you men lack."

Yagi squinted at the form that Midnight had motioned to a few yards away. He could see a dark-haired woman, but that was all. Had it really been that easy? He'd been expecting Shifter to put up more of a fight, especially using Floodgate's power. But maybe that had been her downfall. Midnight had already fought Floodgate once. She knew what to expect.

"Where's Aizawa?" Yagi asked, finding himself unable to relax.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I was hoping you boys could tell me." Again she sent him an assessing look.

Yamada snorted at that. "I thought maybe he was helping you in the fight. If he's still solo, then Eraser isn't going to just appear unless he wants to be seen. Darkness isn't a handicap for him like it is us. He's probably skulking around somewhere, doing a check." He shrugged and then put his hands on his hips, grinning cheekily. "Or he isn't even here at all."

She shook her head, an odd expression on her face. "No, he's here. We ran into each other earlier… I was just hoping he was with you."

"Sorry to disappoint."

Neither of them noticed as Yagi began carefully edging toward Shifter's motionless form on the grass. Something still seemed wrong about all of this.

He only half listened to the conversation between the pair behind him.

"Do you have any service on your phone?" Yamada was asking. "Mine's dead. We should call the cops."

"Already done. You can use mine to call the principal, though. Here." She reached out to hand him the phone, a strange smile on her face.

Yagi slowly crunched into the shadows, finally turning away from them. The figure was still breathing, and seemed unharmed, though unconscious. His eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness again after being so near to light.

He was finally close enough to make sense of the figure in front of him.

Shit! No!

"Mic, get away from her!" he roared, moving to sprint away from the prone form of Midnight in the grass. He hated to leave her like this, but she was clearly still alive and in far less danger at the moment. "Don't let her touch you!"

It was too late. Yamada turned to look at Toshi as soon as he'd shouted, but in that instant, she had dropped the phone and reached out to swat his hand. It was just a gentle tap, but though Toshi had never seen her operate, he suspected it was enough. Immediately she leapt backwards out of his reach as Yamada turned to grab her. Then she turned and opened her mouth to scream.

Toshi caught on to what was happening a second before Yamada did, shouting, "Cover your ears!"

To his credit, Yamada did as he was told without question just as she sent out a shrieking sound pulse in their general direction, throwing them both to the ground several feet from each other: Yamada onto the sidewalk, and Toshi into the dirt of a flower bed.

"Ohhh, I like this quirk," Shifter purred, flashing a ruby grin at the men—wicked looking on Midnight's borrowed face. "It's even more fun than that girl's!"

Even covered, Toshi's ears were ringing, and he felt shaky as he tried to get to his knees.

Yamada recovered first, pulling himself to his feet and snarling when Shifter mentioned "that girl." But he had hardly opened his mouth before she shouted in her normal voice, "Oh, no you don't!" Pointing at him, she yelled, "Mute!"

His voice immediately cut off. Eyes wide he staggered back in shock. Then, recovering quickly, he moved to attack physically.

She pointed again, calmly stating, "Pause."

Yamada froze in place, unable to move a muscle.

She smiled and then approached him, releasing a thick, pink haze of gas from her body. As soon as she shifted to using Midnight's quirk, the Pause ended, but it didn't matter. Midnight's sleep gas dropped Yamada immediately.

She turned to Toshi then, who had finally pulled himself to his feet, his hands balled into fists.

He moved into a fighting stance, mentally running through his options as he tried to ignore the ringing still present in his ears. Pulling All Might out here in front of her face was definitely not in his best interest, but if she was planning on killing Yamada and Midnight, he may have no choice.

Then again, she had a chance to kill Midnight already and didn't…

He backed up slightly. "Guess this means you don't need quirks to be activated by the user anymore, huh?" he asked, hoping to buy himself a bit more time to think before she tried to pause him, too. "But it looks like you can only use one at a time. That's got to be a pain."

Her eyes narrowed. "Who are you? One of those busybody cops?" She smirked again, but this time it looked more like an irritated grimace. "If so, I hope you've been enjoying my clues."

"Yeah," he grunted. "Tons of fun. Not too hard to beat though. A high schooler could solve them."

She snarled at him. "Shut up! You'd have found me sooner if that was true. I'm better than all of you. No one will tell me what to do anymore!"

Toshi's brow furrowed at that. She sounds more like a frustrated child than a nurse and mother of two.

"Are you sure about that?" He nodded to the cuts on her face and hand. "It looks like Eraserhead has bested you at least once."

"I'm more powerful now. Soon I'll have his quirk, too. Then nothing can stop me."

"Not even All Might?"

She narrowed her eyes at him, snapping, "Especially not All Might." She motioned with her arms. "What do you think I'm counting down to? These fools? They're just his partners. Had to get them out of the way before we take on the Number One."

Toshi froze at that. We?

But he didn't have time to think too hard on that, since she'd regained her composure again. "Who are you, anyway, old man? What's your quirk? You seem pretty confident for some old bag of bones, so I'll bet it's something good."

"I'm just a quirkless old man," he replied coolly, pulling one of his fists back. "I fight old school. Sorry to disappoint."

"Sure you do…" She pointed at him, flashing another grin. "Then you won't mind my intrusion. Pau—"

But before she could finish activating the quirk, Toshi lunged toward her, getting close enough to swing the handful of dirt and sand from his fists directly into her eyes.

Blinded, she screeched and lunged at him, swinging wildly, trying to make contact before he could get away.

He barely managed to spin out of her reach, startled by her surprisingly quick movements, even while blinded.

Need to transform, even if I risk her figuring it out. She's too dangerous right now.

But before he could power up, she lunged again, and almost hit him, missing him by less than an inch.

Too close. She's not giving me any time. I can't transform while dodging her. He stumbled back, again. She swiped at her eyes and pointed wildly just then, screaming, "Pause!"

He froze, eyes wide, unable to move. He tried to activate One for All, but it was as though everything had been paused, even his ability to change form. Shit, shit, shit. Not good!

"Now, let's see what amazing quirk you're hiding, old man," she growled, reaching out to touch him with one hand and she rubbed at her irritated eyes with the other.

But at that moment, Toshi felt something wrap tightly around his waist and pull hard.

"No!" she shouted, lunging at him one last time, her finger barely grazing his skin as he was rapidly pulled away. He felt an electric tingle for a fraction of a second where she'd touched before she disappeared from view.

It happened so quickly that Toshi barely had time to process any of it before he was unceremoniously dumped on the roof of a three story building. The fabric around his waist suddenly slithered out from around his body back to the shadowy figure who stood in front of him.

"Need a hand, Yagi?" grunted a familiar voice.

Toshi pulled himself to his knees, but didn't answer Eraserhead as he stared at his hand, still tingling lightly where she'd touched him.

Shit.

"Yagi?"

But he didn't answer Aizawa, unable to focus on anything except a single thought resonating in his panicked mind.

Did she just borrow One for All?

Author's Note: Thanks so much to lolo popoki and granny_griffin for beting this chapter. Thanks also to my readers who have patiently waited for this update. And thanks to my reviewers for giving feedback! I hope you continue enjoying the story, and I especially hope you like this chapter!

Happy Easter!

Sincerely,
Sirius:)