Chapter 2: Book 1: Thunder - A Leaf in the Wind
It's way too easy to give her nanny the slip. Toph has perfected the art, and this caretaker is especially lax with the rules. Or rather, Yui-san has learned that damage control is much easier than Toph control.
The only problem is all the trees. And long grasses. And there's so much loose dirt, Toph can hardly see more than five feet ahead of herself.
"Fuck!" She growls. She heard the cook say it once after injuring his finger, and it feels appropriate even if she isn't sure what it means. Another branch whacks her in the face and Toph screams as she swats it away, feeling the lingering sting over her forehead. Slowly, she draws to a stop in the brush, scowling. "I know I can do this," she mutters venomously, slapping her cheeks. "Concentrate, Beifong!"
If she can't walk through a stupid forest without smacking into every plant, how is she ever going to get by on her own? Will she be stuck clinging to someone's arm, clutching a dumb walking stick, her entire life?
"Fuck, no." Toph breathes, and shuts her useless eyes. Concentrate. Be patient. Something tells her she has to be patient. There isn't much wind, but there's enough to make everything rustle and swish and crunch and chatter—ugh, it's all a mess in her ears, she needs more to understand what's around her. Concentrate, she thinks again, dragging one foot across the ground. Too muffled.
After a moment Toph kicks off her shoes and yanks off her socks for good measure, and when she sets her feet down this time—"That's the stuff," Toph sighs in relief, pressing her toes into the earth. She focuses on the sensation, and then stomps on the ground experimentally. The vibrations spread around her as always, but the waves are muddled and dampened. Why? She can feel the earth there, it's all around, twisting between harder rocks and roots—
Roots. The plants. Ugh, nature. It's still muddling her senses. If she could just get her vibrations to go further, go faster, maybe—maybe—
Toph stomps harder. Nothing. She can feel the stupid tree on her right, though. She stomps again, shifting her weight as she does so—and there's a swish of leaves all around her, like the trees are quivering in fright.
Toph grins. Yeah, you better be afraid of me, she wants to shout at the world. She spreads her legs, bending them at the knee to keep her balance. It feels right. It feels natural. Lifting her left leg high, Toph brings her foot down hard, like she's sending a message through the earth itself.
And the ground trembles beneath her. She can see everything, from the shuddering trees to tiny blades of grass. There's a crater around her foot, rippling outward in each direction. She did that? But she's not strong enough to break the rocks beneath her! And she's stomped on earth before, she's jumped and kicked and tapped the ground many times.
But not like this. Not while focusing her mind, reaching out to feel all around. Toph shifts back into her stance, knees bent, back straight—and when she stomps, she tells the earth to m o v e.
A boulder erupts in front of her. Unconsciously, she modifies her stance, raising a tight fist.
Crrr— k!
The punch is sharp and confident, but only as powerful as a little girl could make it. In the same instance she sees the whole shape and size of the rock and shatters it along its fault lines, reducing it to pebbles at her feet.
Her knuckles sting a little, and Toph shakes out her hand. The world before her is crisper than ever, and she doesn't need to stomp so much to feel the earth. There are natural vibrations here and there, a tree shuddering in the wind, a bug landing on a tall flower, and if she stays focused, Toph can see it all. The earth is alive.
Toph feels alive too.
She hastily tries calling up another boulder from the ground—and nothing. Her heart hammers in her chest. How did she do it the first time? She sent a shockwave through the ground, and the rock responded, right? It doesn't feel right. Toph screws up her face in concentration and begins stomping, punching, kicking. Just yelling at the earth doesn't work—just stomping on the ground won't get it to respond. Toph needs to fight it. Give it an order, and be purposeful about it.
She needs to—to bend the earth to her will.
Toph digs her heel into the earth, and the ground rises to her will. She didn't even need to stomp this time. The earth just listens to her. She can bend it however she wants. Like in the old folktale of the Avatar, a legendary master of elements. The Avatar could bend the powers of nature.
Earthbending. She likes how that sounds.
She finds a clearing to practice in; an expanse of treeless ground with one side blocked off by a high cliff of jagged rocks. There, Toph finds out exactly what she's capable of doing.
Leaping off a shelf of earth, Toph roars as she pummels another boulder—this one's at least twice her height!—into dust. The shockwave ripples out around her, and she can feel the moment a fruit of some kind is shaken loose from a tree. Toph stretches out her hands eagerly, and something round and hard drops into her palms. She's grinning so hard, her cheeks are going to ache for days. She tries taking a bite and finds out it's a gross-tasting apple, but still.
The realization hits somewhere between punching through her eighth boulder and raising a (precarious) wall of earth twelve feet tall: Toph doesn't just see with her quirk, she can fight with it.
And she wants to fight, Toph realizes. Every rock she punches into dust, every tremor she can generate, it's exhilarating. Using her quirk like this is amazing. She wants to do this every day, for the rest of her life. She wants to show the world how awesome she is, how powerful she can be.
For once, Toph doesn't mind being blind. Not when she can do this.
Toph digs her hands into the earth, loving the way the ground softens beneath her, yields to her every command. She won't be treated like glass when she can crush boulders with her bare hands. They can't say she's fragile when she can lift mountains. So she gets to work.
With the skills of her nanny in cleaning up the evidence, Toph is allowed to return to the mountains every other week. Yui-san takes her by train one day while their driver is unavailable, and Toph is carefully quiet during the trip there and back, mapping out her path.
Then, Toph sneaks out on a Tuesday evening while her parents are away and the mansion is mostly empty. She has no train ticket, no money or phone. Her watch will read out the time to her if she presses it, and she keeps track of the hour while she practices. If even one thing had gone wrong, Toph could've been in serious trouble. She fumbles a few times, catching the eye of a concerned mother; a whispered conversation between two businessmen wondering where Toph's going. At one point Toph gets very close to being caught by a ticket inspector, but notices him in time to sneak away.
No one stops her.
She continues to practice whenever she can escape, and the older she gets, the easier it is to fool everyone. Toph learns which trains run late, and pays careful attention to the sort of people she encounters. Villainous activity is higher at night, and while Toph isn't afraid of anything, she's not stupid. She waits. She listens. She practices where no one will find her.
And that is Toph's life for the next year.
She's a week away from her seventh birthday when she meets Twinkletoes.
It starts with some odd rustling trees. Toph is still focusing on making a boulder three times her size float into the air, and ignores it. But the wind is strange. It's too… sharp.
"WHATCHA DOING?" A young, loud boy screams at her out of nowhere, and Toph gasps as the boulder crashes down at her feet. "OH MY GOD!"
Toph whips around, trying locate the voice. Why is it so windy? Suddenly the wind disperses and a person steps onto the earth—from where? Did he fly?—and Toph can sense a boy, taller and sturdier than her, standing just a few meters away.
"What're you doing here?" Toph demands, facing him.
"I'm hunting bugs! How'd you lift such a big rock? You must be pretty strong!" Something plastic and metal and cloth clatters to the floor by his feet. A box? A net? Whatever it is, he's abandoned it to talk with her.
She pauses, relaxing a little. "Yeah, I am," Toph agrees smugly.
"I'm strong too though! I can fly!" And then he jumps up and disappears from her again, completely baffling Toph. He's gone. Like a bird. She hates birds. The wind disappears as he lands once more. "Hey, why do your eyes look like that?"
Toph scowls, belatedly fixing her bangs so they hang over her face. "They just do."
And instead of taking that for an answer, the boy takes as an invitation to run—dance?—right up to her to get a better look. "They're strange!" He exclaims cheerfully, and Toph flinches back at his closeness.
"Get away from me, Twinkletoes," She snaps, pushing his chest with both hands. He doesn't move as much as she'd like.
"Twinkletoes?"
"Yeah, Twinkletoes," Toph declares with a nasty grin, "Because you walk so lightly, I can barely sense it."
"Sense it? Whatcha mean? And why aren't you looking at me? Are you sure your eyes are okay?"
"Shut up," Toph growls, tensing up. "Or I'll bury you alive!"
"Huh? Whaddya mean—?"
And then Toph has the earth swallow him up, right up to his waist.
"HOLY MOLY! THIS IS AMAZING!"
Okay. Not the response she was hoping for. "Keep yelling and I'll bury you all the way," Toph hisses, carefully listening for any more people nearby. "I'm not supposed to be out this late, you'll get me in trouble."
"OH! Oh. Okay!" He whisper-shouts. "Hang on, you can get me out of this, right?"
Toph pretends to think about it. "Only if you promise me something."
"Anything! I'm Inasa Yoarashi, by the way!"
"That's nice, Twinkletoes," Toph rolls her eyes and stomps on the ground, bending him out of the earth. "Now," she says ominously, jabbing a finger at him. "I wanna fight you!"
"WHAT?" He flails. She can hear his heart if she listens carefully, fluttering like a hummingbird. She can use that for when he's in the air, he can't hide from her that way.
"I don't wanna fight!" Inasa whines. "I wanna be friends!"
… Friends?
Toph is startled into silence. She didn't think of that. "You can be my friend IF you fight me," she decides. "Quirks allowed. First one to give up or get pinned down loses—we'll be careful, I won't hurt you if you don't hurt me," she promises.
He seems uncomfortable for a moment, shifting from foot to foot. "How about a time limit, too? And will you still be my friend if I win?"
(Privately, Toph thinks she'll only be his friend if he wins)
"Yeah. Oh, and I'm Toph. Let's fight for… ten minutes?"
"I have a stopwatch!" Twinkletoes says eagerly, fiddling with the device on his wrist. "Okay, all set, Toph?"
She spreads her legs into a more balanced stance and grins. "Yep. Let's go, Twinkles!"
He presses a button to start the timer, and then leaps towards her.
Twinkletoes is good. He dances to dodge her rocks, and Toph has to dig her heels into the earth to withstand his powerful gusts of wind. They're both breathing heavily, hearts hammering, equally exhausted. But he's never seen someone like Toph fight before, and she's sure she's about to pin him down when his watch's timer starts beeping.
"Dang it!" She huffs.
Toph lets her attack crumble down to nothing as the dust settles. Then Twinkletoes leaps to his feet, sending dust everywhere anyway. "That was fun! You're really cool, Toph!"
"Thanks," she grins, panting a little. "Your quirk is hard for me to fight."
"Right back atcha! They're like opposites! Earth and air!" He dances closer to her, breathless, with a smile in his tone. Toph earthbends them a bench to rest on, and he takes a seat very close to her. "Hey…Toph?" He asks timidly, or what could pass for timid in his case.
She dusts off her shirt. "Yeah?"
"Um. Why do you hide your eyes like that? You don't really seem like you're shy." He asks. Toph is a little surprised, but she's learned through fighting him that Inasa is more observant than he initially seemed.
After a moment of deliberation, Toph pushes her bangs carefully behind each ear, letting him see her eyes properly. She can hear his intake of breath as he puts the pieces together.
"You—You can't see me, can you?"
She hates the pity in his voice. It makes her want to fight all over again.
"How'd you fight me?" He continues curiously. "You're so good at it, too!"
Her mouth twitches upward. "I use my quirk. I can use it like another sense, so when your feet are on the ground, I can 'see' you."
"Twinkletoes," The name dawns on the boy like a bright sun. "But, but you still can't see me when I'm using myquirk!"
Toph snorts. "No, but I sure can hear you."
He's practically vibrating with excitement, and reaches out to grab her shoulder urgently. "Toph, when are you gonna come back? We should fight again! Or, what's it called, sparring! It's good practice for when we're heroes!"
Toph blinks. "Heroes?"
"Yeah!" He pumps a fist into the air, and then looks at her curiously. "Don't you wanna be a hero?" He asks expectantly. Like it shouldn't even be a question. "You'd make an awesome hero, you're so good at it already!"
"Yeah," Toph agrees, her chest feeling light. His hand is still on her shoulder, a warm and friendly weight. "Yeah, let's be heroes, Inasa!"
Chapter 3: Book 1: Thunder - The Elementals, Part I
Toph is seven years old when she gets kidnapped. She wakes up cold and disoriented, surrounded by the tinny, uncomfortable vibrations of metal. "What happened?" Toph groans, trying to focus her hearing. She's not the only one here, but there's only one other person moving. "Inasa?" she guesses hopefully.
"No," an unfamiliar boy answers, shuffling closer. "I'm the only one awake. Who are you?"
"Toph." There's a crackle of fire, and she flinches a little from the unexpected heat. "What are you doing?"
"It's too dark to see in here," the boy explains apologetically. Toph lowers her hands, facing the source of heat warily. "Are you okay? What happened to your eyes?"
Toph blinks, touching her face in confusion. "Nothing, I'm just blind."
"What—?"
"It's fine, it's always been like this," Toph cuts him off quickly, irritated. "Is Inasa here? He's tall, got a buzzcut."
The boy shuffles around some more as Toph presses her hands to the steel floor, concentrating. "I think this is him? He's the only other older kid here."
Toph frowns, having come to the same conclusion as she feels around the steel box they're in. In total there are fifteen kids in here, thirteen still unconscious. Most seem fine, Inasa included, but three seem to be shivering from the cold, their movements erratic in their sleep. "You've got a fire-type quirk, right? Some of the little ones are too cold, can you help them?"
He pauses, still crouched by Inasa. "Which ones?" He doesn't ask how she knows.
Toph gets to her feet carefully, grimacing at the ice-cold floor on her bare feet. Determinedly, she points out each kid, and together she and the fire boy collect them together and huddle beside them. "They look like they could have fire quirks," the boy observes, "So they could be sensitive to the cold." He shuffles over so the kids are mostly leaning on his left side, and Toph stays on the other side to squish them in.
"That's weird," Toph says quietly, half-focusing on Inasa's breathing.
"What is?" The boy asks.
"Well," Toph taps her foot rhythmically, "You've got fire, Inasa has a wind quirk, and I can control earth. What are the chances we're gonna find some water-quirks too?"
The boy hums in interest. "You think we might all be elemental users," he muses. "What's the last thing you remember, Toph?"
She thinks back, the memories surfacing slow and unwillingly like molasses through her head. "I was… playing with Inasa in a forest. Well, we were fighting, but we always do. And I heard someone approach. They just wanted to watch our fight, so we let 'em. Then he was all—angry? Excited? Maybe happy." She remembers the clink of metal and the whoosh of air, faster than anything Inasa's done. She still tried to dodge, but it nicked her. There's an ache in the meat of her shoulder, a bruise. "He shot us. Something to knock us out."
"I was taken from home," the boy shares. "Dad wasn't home that night, there were a few people that snuck in. I fought, but they knocked me out with some chemical."
Toph frowns. "Any idea why we're being kidnapped? My parents are rich, so I guess could be a ransom thing, but I don't know about everyone else." They didn't even ask for her name.
The boy is quiet. "Well, my dad's a pro hero. It could have something to do with that? Or," he pauses again, "Maybe it's to do with our quirks? Because we have elemental powers?"
"Maybe," Toph says, "But we don't know if everyone here has the same kind of quirk. What's your name, by the way?"
He seems to curl into himself, and speaks with all the confidence of a field mouse, "Shouto… My dad is Endeavor, the flame hero."
Toph's eyes widen, but she bites down on her exclamation quickly. He didn't seem so stiff until now, but his shoulders are tense and his heart is beating rather fast and she doesn't like it. "Okay," Toph says casually, placing a hand against the cold wall. "Um. Think you can melt us out of here?"
He shakes his head, limbs loosening a bit. "No, I thought of that. The metal's too thick, it'll take ages and it'll make the rest of the floor too hot to stand on. I can't tell who's out there guarding us, either." Shouto explains. A beat later, he adds, "I'm better with ice, anyway."
"Ice?" Toph repeats in confusion, lifting her head.
"My quirk is half-hot, half-cold. I… don't like to use the fire-side that much," Shouto admits, adjusting his arm around the two boys and one girl between them. They were all younger than Toph, but one of the boys was almost as big as her and it was hard to keep them all warm.
"So it's like, one hand has ice and the other has fire?" Toph guesses, judging by the way Shouto's sitting against the kids. It's kinda funny, it sounds like another Avatar myth, but she won't tell him that. "If it's too much then stop, but your ice can't help these kids as much as your fire right now," Toph reminds him.
"Oka—" Shouto cuts himself off as a metal door slams, somewhere outside the metal crate-thing they're in. Toph goes still, and then gets up from her spot next to the kids to get closer to the source. "Toph, you shouldn't—"
"Shh!" Toph raises a hand quickly, and Shouto quickly falls silent. She closes her eyes and stands as still as possible, listening. "I can hear them."
"So you think any of the children are awake yet?" Someone stands by another metal wall—sheet metal, thin and tall, like a warehouse. He latches the door.
"Haven't heard any crying yet, so no." The new speaker chews on a piece of gum noisily, leaning against a box like the one they're in. Are there more people? More boxes of kids?
"You sure it was smart to grab the hero's kid? We've already made the morning news." A nervous man. His footsteps are heavy, and his voice warbles oddly, maybe he has a mutation quirk.
"The boss wanted him for a reason. He's already halfway there, ya know, he's a good candidate. We'll be moving out within the day, they won't be able to track us after that."That's another speaker, one that speaks with sharp authority and treads like Inasa, light and airy. "Once we get to the facility, we can complete Amon's vision and invoke the Avatar State once more."
Avatar State? They really were using that folklore, the really old stories about... benders. Like her. She named her quirk after the bending art of those old stories. A lot of people do it, like the Agni family in China and the waterbending hero, Backdraft. She told that stranger what her quirk was before he shot her!
Toph doesn't like this. She doesn't like this at all, and she doesn't even know what they're doing. Where would they be moved to? Where's the boss, and how was he supposed to summon the Avatar? She doesn't have a single answer, but there are fourteen other kids trapped in here, Inasa isn't waking up, and Toph has had enough.
There's only one thing she can do.
She strikes the wall suddenly, viciously, palm out like she's striking rock. "HEY! YOU FREAKIN' CREEPS! LET US OUT SO I CAN KICK YOUR BUTTS!" Toph punches again, hating how the vibrations rattle her teeth. She screams in anger and stomps on the ground, letting loose the strongest vibration yet. "YOU HEAR ME, YOU PUNKS?! I'M GONNA TAKE YOU ALL OUT!"
"Toph, what are you doing?!" Shouto exclaims, and some of the children begin to stir. "You're gonna make them panic!"
"I'M GONNA GET US ALL OUTTA HERE BEFORE THESE MOOKS CAN LAY A HAND ON US!" Toph screams, banging the wall again. The vibrations she sends out are painful to focus on, but she does it. Eight, no, nine captors. Plus the boss, if he's around but out of range.
A couple of the captors wander closer to their box. It's gotta be a shipment container, like the kind they use on freighter trains and trade ships. Her dad's described them before.
"Hey, I guess someone's up," Chewing Gum comments, and kicks the outside of the box. "Quit whining, girlie, it'll all be over soon."
Toph screams and punches back, right where she thinks his crotch would be. He startles a little at the sound, but doesn't back off.
"That's gotta be the earth girl, she's got a quirk like that rescue hero. The cat one, y'know." Flutterfoot speaks again, and Toph is close enough to recognize the voice as the person that went after her and Inasa. "She's one of the stronger ones, but it's not a problem. She's blind."
She strikes the wall again with a yell. "You're gonna regret hurting my friends!" Toph vows coldly. "When I bust outta here, I'm going after you first."
"Uh huh. Keep dreaming, sweetheart. Maybe you'll be a hero in your next life."
The threat sends a chill down her back, but Toph just screams and punches the wall again, harder than ever, willing and demanding and pleading for it to just move.
It doesn't.
Instead, she thinks the wall is singing, and it startles Toph so bad that she stumbles away from it, bewildered. "Toph!" Shouto yells sharply, "Get away from there, don't draw their attention."
Toph tears herself away from the odd, rippling sensation of the wall, stomping her way over to Inasa. He's beginning to stir, and she wants to hear her stupid friend's voice more than anything.
"Inasa," Toph holds his shoulder carefully, "Are you awake yet? C'mon Twinkletoes, I need your stupid help."
He groans, rolling onto his back. "Ugh. Toph? Toph, what happened? I feel… bad."
"We got freakin' kidnapped, and now we gotta save all these kids, so you're not allowed to cry," Toph explains succinctly, her words not a warning but a declaration. She points over her shoulder. "That's Shouto. Everyone else here is a baby."
"Shouto?" Inasa rubs at his face, peering at the other boy. "Um. Hi. I'm Inasa Yoarashi. What the heck is going on?"
"Toph just woke everyone up by banging on the walls," Shouto informs him irritably. "You shouldn't talk to them, Toph, we don't know what they want or if they're—"
"I know what they want," Toph cuts him off, folding her arms. "We need to get outta here before they move us…" she trails off as the younger kids stir and awaken, and Toph can sense their panic settling in. She clamps down on any panic of her own. "Shouto, gimme some light?" She asks abruptly, helping Inasa to his feet. "The kids are scared."
"How can you always tell?" Shouto murmurs, but complies anyway, judging by the flare of heat and crackle of flames near her. Toph takes a deep breath and slaps on the sweet smile she usually reserves for her parents and home tutors. She has to act like everything's okay, that's what heroes do.
"Hi everyone! My name is Toph. This is Twinkletoes, and that's Icy-Hot. Is anyone hurt? Can you tell me your names?" She elbows Inasa sharply, making him yelp.
"Yes! I'm Twinkle—NO, my name is Inasa, c'mon Toph!"
"Hush, Twinkles, go check if anyone's hurt." Inasa groans dramatically and hops away, apparently over his sleepiness.
One of the kids closest to them giggles at their antics. Another one is still panicking. "Wh-Where are we? I wanna go home!"
Toph kneels, grabbing the girl's hands gently. Toph focuses on her panicked heart. "What's your name?"
"H-Himari," she says softly. She's maybe five years old, if Toph had to guess.
"Himari-chan, don't be afraid. We're stuck in here, and there are villains outside, but we're going to get out of here soon." She squeezes the girl's hands, feeling her shake. "Are you cold?"
"Yes—oh," she tugs her hands out of Toph's, cupping her mouth. Suddenly Toph feels the brush of warmth over her face, a sort of pop-crackle to go along with it. "I can make hot sparks with my breath. I can warm up myself!"
Toph nods, not able to quite smile. Another fire-type quirk. They really did gather up elemental kids. "That's great, Himari-chan. Can you help Shouto warm up the other kids?"
She exhales again, a few more sparks crackling around the girl's face. "I-I can try?" Toph directs her to Shouto, who is amassing a small army of pre-school children.
"You look funny!" One boy points at Shouto's head. "Like—like a peppermint."
"Yes," Shouto agrees serenely, apparently accepting this description. She'll have to ask about that later on, what the hell did peppermints even look like? "This side makes ice, and this one makes fire."
A girl gasps in delight. "Icy-Hot! I get it!"
"Icy-Hot, I can make ice too, and water and steam!"
"...My name is Shouto, actually."
"Can you make snow? My daddy can, but I make bubbles!"
"Ah. I don't think I should make snow right now, it's already cold."
Toph grins, helping another boy to his feet. He's got tiny, feathery wings attached to his forearms, and he's very light, as if his bones are hollow like a bird's. "How do you feel, Feathers?"
"Feathers…?" The boy says tiredly, and then brushes a hand over his arms. "I'm Yuuto, not Feathers!" he declares fearlessly. "And I'm fine!" His heart says otherwise.
"Do you have an air quirk, Yuuto?" Toph asks. "Wanna meet my friend Inasa? He can control wind."
"I—really?" Yuuto's heart jumps as surprise overtakes his worry. "The Twinkle boy?"
"I'm not Twinkletoes, I'm Inasa!" Her friend dances over to the clump of kids around Shouto, landing beside Yuuto.
"You can fly!" Yuuto says in wonder.
"Kind of!" Inasa agrees excitedly, and they usher the feathered boy to Shouto.
The half-hot half-cold boy is getting a lot of attention. Shouts of "I like your hair!" and "You're pretty, Shou-chan!" surround the boy, who seems unable to respond.
Toph stomps on the ground—lightly, but enough to rattle the box—and places her hands on her hips. "Listen up, everyone! We're gonna be saved by heroes, but until then we have to keep each other feeling safe and warm." The atmosphere has changed dramatically since Toph first woke everyone up, hearts calmed, breaths unworried. It's much easier for her to focus now.
"Oh!" Inasa raises his hand for some reason. "We should have a buddy-system. Toph and Shouto and me are the oldest, but we can't look after everyone, okay? So—pair up! Take care of your partner!"
Toph gives a sharp nod of approval as the kids pair up easily, chattering about their quirks. They're all young enough to be familiar with buddy-systems that schools give. Most of them pair up with kids with similar quirks, though Himari pairs with Yui, who shoots water from her fingers.
Inasa grabs Toph's elbow, and mutters to her, "What's the plan?"
Toph drags him over to Shouto, who's been very quiet this whole time and is hard for her to read. The younger kids are all distracted, calmer than before, and Toph thinks she can speak without them overhearing anything. "I can hear everyone outside this box," Toph begins, and Shouto leans closer. "I counted nine, but they mentioned a boss, too."
"Could ya hear 'em say anything about what they want with us?" Inasa asks eagerly.
Toph hesitates, and then gives another short nod. "It's about our quirks. They wanna do something with them."
Shouto wraps his arms around his knees. "So you think they need us alive. That's why you weren't afraid to yell at them?"
"Yeah. But they know your dad's gonna come after them. Those mooks plan on moving us before the end of the day."
"You dad?" Inasa inquires, turning to Shouto.
"My dad's a pro hero," Shouto says shortly, deliberately leaving it vague. "Toph, what else do you know?"
Toph chews her lip. "Well, about our quirks. They said the boss wanted you, Shouto, because you're already 'halfway there'. And you sort of have two elements as a part of your quirk, right? They want experiment on us or something to combine elements. For that to happen, they can't hurt us until after we're moved—so now's our only time to strike."
"What?" Inasa yelps, before Toph slaps a hand over his loud mouth. He speaks through her fingers. "I don't like this at all! How can we get help? I don't even know where we are!"
Toph pulls her hand away, pulling her legs in. "I don't know," she snaps. "Pull yourself together, Twinkles, we don't have time for fear, and we don't have time to be rescued. We need to bust out on our own." It's what she realized when those villains were talking. To pull off a kidnapping of this scale, they had to have a plan to get them out quickly, but they chose young kids for a reason. There was no time to waste.
And Toph's blood was boiling, she was not going down easy. Her parents think she's weak enough as is, and she still has to prove the whole world wrong and become a hero.
Inasa whines, but manages to keep his voice down. "Toooppph, nooo, this isn't a game! How're we supposed to fight, anyway? How're we supposed to get out of this box? There's ten villains and three of us old enough to maybe fight. And we're seven!"
"Toph," Shouto cuts in smoothly, "Are… are you cold? Your feet look blue."
"Blue?" Toph frowns at the non sequitur.
"That's what happens when they're cold," Inasa explains, shifting to get a better look at her. "Oh, yikes!" He places a hand on her foot and Toph flinches back, almost kicking him in the face.
"Quit it!" Toph snaps. "Don't touch my feet!"
"But you're cold!" Twinkletoes protests. "Shouto, help me out. She's tiny and barefoot and stubborn as a rock!" He dodges a swipe of Toph's hand.
"That doesn't mean I need help, Airhead."
"But you are cold," Inasa argues.
"...Maybe… put your feet against my thigh?" Shouto suggests awkwardly. "I won't make more fire, I can just make it warm." He turns his left side to face her, stretching out a leg. "Put your feet out. You can't fight with numb toes."
After a moment of tense silence, Toph deflates and sticks out her feet. She still twitches when Shouto's hand grabs her ankle, guiding her to rest on his warm side. Inasa hugs her suddenly from behind, engulfing her whole torso with his stupidly long arms, and Toph vows to punch him in the face when they're out of this mess.
Toph huffs, blowing hair out of her face. "I think I can break through this box," she says finally, sinking into Inasa's warmth. "I wasn't just banging on the walls 'cause I was mad. I can see through the vibrations. I can feel my surroundings that way. And I was hitting the wall so hard, I was trying my best to feel everything I could…"
She flexes her hands experimentally. They sting a little bit, and she thinks they're going to be in pretty bad shape by the end of this. But it's okay as long as I can save everyone.
Toph clenches her hands into fists. "Metal comes from earth, doesn't it? I'll make an exit for us."
"You think you can do that?" Shouto asks skeptically.
Toph nods resolutely. "I have to, so I will."
Inasa hugs her tighter. "Toph, how can you just say cool stuff like that? You're so quotable, like a pro hero, ne, Shouto?"
Shouto doesn't answer at first, and Toph gets the feeling she's being stared at. Twinkletoes is hugging the hell out of her, and Shouto is touching her feet, and suddenly Toph isn't cold at all. In fact, she's very warm, and maybe feels like melting or punching someone. She vows to punch Inasa twice when this is over.
"Yeah," Shouto says finally, and Inasa waits for him to say more, but he doesn't.
"Wah!" The wind boy exclaims. "You're just as cool! So mysterious! I like it!"
"...Thanks?"
Toph rolls her eyes. "We need a plan. I don't want any of those kids getting hurt. You guys don't have to fight if you don't want to, but—"
"Are you kidding, Toph?" Twinkletoes interrupts, "No way are you gonna fight alone! We're all gonna save each other, aren't we?" He looks to Shouto.
"I can fight," he says solemnly. "But they might have guns, and more tranquilizer bullets to knock us out," he reminds them.
"Ha! I won't let that hit me again!" Inasa declares. "I was caught off-guard before, but I'm fast! I can blow them away if I see it coming."
"Just don't blow me away too," Toph mumbles. "I'll tell you if I hear any guns being drawn. I know what they sound like now. So, here's what I know about the villains down there…"
The three elemental children huddle together, Toph squished between them, as they discuss their plan. They probably take longer than they should, and have to stop frequently to check on the younger kids, but finally, Toph untangles herself from the boys and gets to her feet. The boys go over to keep the little ones calm, and Shouto forms a careful wall of ice so that none of them try to follow them out.
She cracks her knuckles and stretches her arms, spreading her legs until she's standing in a deep squat, firmly balanced on the warmed metal floor. Then she takes a deep breath and screams, "HEY YOU DUNDERHEADS DID YOU FORGET ABOUT ME?!" while striking the metal with both hands precisely. It doesn't move, but Toph isn't worried.
She stomps the ground again, hands flying out. "IF YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME, YOU'RE DEAD WRONG!" She declares, punching the walls before her.
"Oh great, the girl's at it again," Chewing Gum is the first to complain. None of them come near the container this time, already familiar with her tantrum. "C'mon kid, pipe down. It's not like there's anyone around to hear you!"
Toph roars back, still working the metal. It's hard. Brittle and unyielding. She slams her hands down again, searching. She screams, a battle cry and a shout of frustration at the same time. "C'mon, metal," Toph mutters to herself, folding an arm and striking with a hard elbow. Her hands are beginning to ache. "Move."
Toph leans back, and then punches the wall decisively—and her teeth rattle as the wall sings to her again. She huffs out a laugh and does it again, ignoring the spike of pain down her left arm. Her knuckles might be bleeding by now, but it doesn't matter. Toph punches once more, readying herself.
"Here we go, nerds!" Toph shouts back to Shouto and Inasa, turning her attention to the far side of the box, out of the villains' sight. She slides back into her stance. The boys shift, bracing themselves.
Toph explodes through the wall, the metal screeching terribly, and wastes no time tearing a hole large enough for them to escape through.
"What the fuck was that?" A woman demands. Toph is ready. Twinkletoes is practically vibrating in excitement. Shouto's heart rate picks up.
Inasa screams out a heartfelt battlecry as he leaps off the top of the shipping container, aiming straight for the Flutterfoot, the woman who walks on air. The woman dodges, and that's when Toph strikes from below, punching out with a boulder and throwing her across the warehouse. Shouto freezes her carefully in place.
Toph laughs maniacally as she reveals herself to the eight others, drawing their eyes. "WHO'S NEXT?!"
Chapter 4: Book 1: Thunder - The Elementals, Part 2
Endeavor hates working hostage situations. He hates working with local heroes, too. And most of all, he hates the fact that it's been six hours and they still haven't found his goddamn son.
Enji slams a hand down on the conference table. "There's been fourteen other cases of kidnapping in the past two days, and I'm only just hearing about this now?!"
"Well," an officer flounders, "They're all over the place, and it happened so suddenly. We just caught wind of a villain group gaining momentum. They call themselves the Elementals, and it's not clear what they want, but all the kids fit the same criteria as their group members—they all have primarily elemental quirks. It could be related to that Avatar religious organization. Your son is the only one with opposing elements as his quirk, I'd say they chose to take him because it's closer to what the Avatar could accomplish."
Enji scowls down at the files. The rest of the children taken were nobodies, no ties to heroes or villains or political figures. Except for the rich Beifong girl, whose quirk can hardly be called an elemental-type. Enji frowns at her records, which were vague and unhelpful. Quirk: Earth Sense. What the hell did that mean?
"Chief! Endeavor! We've got a lead!" Someone comes barreling into the room, waving a paper in his hand. "Endeavor—your son called! We have a location—"
"What?!" Enji gets to his feet and snatches the report out of the man's grasp. "Get your men ready. I'm going on ahead." He turns to the other pro heroes on the case with an expectant look.
The Water Hose duo are already on their feet, so at least they're taking this seriously. "We'll get your son back, Endeavor," the wife promises. Enji huffs and walks away.
What they find when they finally reach the location of the call—a warehouse at the far end of an abandoned shipping yard—is not what any of them expect.
A child screams, and the Water Hose duo sprint ahead, leaving Enji behind. He's not an idiot like them. The scream devolves into unrestrained laughter as the heroes approach a wide, earthen play-pen outside the warehouse, filled with the missing toddlers. They're screaming like banshees because they're playing. He's familiar enough with the way Fuyumi and Natsuo screech at each other.
An older kid with a buzzcut is the first to look their way, and he shoots into the air and screams,"EVERYONE, THE HEROES ARE HERE!" before floating back down to sit beside two other children. "HOLY CRAP, YOU NEVER SAID YOU DAD WAS ENDEAVOR!"
The Water Hose team deals with the younger kids as they climb off monkey bars and slides, made from a combination of earth and ice. There's even a pile of snow at the end of one looping slide that must be Shouto's work. A quick headcount tells him that all fifteen children reported missing are here, and none of them seem gravely injured.
What the hell happened?
Enji's eyes find Shouto easily enough. He's sitting between the wind-quirk boy, likely Inasa Yoarashi, and a tiny girl—Toph Beifong, the rich girl with an earth-type quirk.
"Father," he calls in greeting. Enji scans over his son, wondering why he hasn't bothered getting up. Then his eyes slide over to the girl. She has her hands flat against Shouto's icy right forearm, trying to alleviate a mess of cuts and inflamed skin.
"What happened here?" Enji demands, lifting his eyes to search the area for their captors.
"There were ten villains," Shouto explains easily, watching Enji like a hawk. "Most of them are still unconscious."
"Toph trapped them in one of those crates to be sure!" The wind boy, Inasa Yoarashi, pipes up, a huge grin on his face.
The girl nods, not looking up from the ground. Her foot taps on the ground erratically. "They're all in there, even their dunderhead of a boss," the girl's voice is high-pitched and a lot more impudent than he'd expect.
Enji looks past them, into the open entrance to the warehouse. There does seem to be a shipping container in sight, warped, coated in ice, and half-buried in the ground.
Again, what the hell happened here?
"Stay where you are," he calls to them, venturing towards the crate alone. The Water Hose team hover at the exit, on standby as he approaches. It doesn't take long to confirm the the kids' story, and Endeavor is walking back to the earth playground before he knows it, feeling distinctly underutilized. He flips on his communicator and explains the situation to the SWAT team.
As the police forces march out to the warehouse, Endeavor crouches beside the three seven-year-olds. It'll be some time before the ambulances make their way to this remote location, so the job falls to the heroes to look after the victims."Good. You've kept the swelling down enough to wrap up her hands, Shouto," he says approvingly, unzipping the small pouch on the back of his belt. "Do you have any other injuries, Ms. Beifong?"
The girl huffs, lifting her hands off of Shouto. "Nope." She holds out her hands expectantly and Enji gets out a roll of gauze to wrap the injuries. "Twinkletoes has a twisted ankle… and Himari-chan is about to freak out, though."
Enji frowns at Beifong, intrigued by her answer, when a piercing wail cuts through the air as a younger girl begins to cry hysterically. Enji turns back to look at the scene, and sees the husband Water Hose hero frantically putting out small fires caused by the girl's sparking quirk. Endeavor quickly decides the other heroes can handle that mess.
He looks at Beifong once more, suspicious. "Your quirk is listed as Earth Sense in your records. Is that really all it is?"
She looks surprised at the question. "That's only part of it. I call it Earthbending, actually, like in the folktales," she admits, "And I could only move rocks, but today I punched through steel." She seems incredibly satisfied with herself, even with her broken and bleeding knuckles. "So I'm thinkin' as long it comes from earth, I can sense it and I can fight with it."
Odd, Endeavor thinks, still peering at the tiny girl. He would never think a girl of her size would have much control over a quirk with so much destructive power. Enji had looked at her family history to get a better idea of what sort of quirks the villains were targeting; the Beifong girl's quirk seems like a version of her mother's crystal manipulation. He doesn't overlook her decision in naming the quirk either; if the Elementals were searching for the mythical 'benders' of the Avatar stories, of course they'd go after anyone with earthbending.
But even Earthbending doesn't explain how she punched through steel. Weird kid.
"That's how she hurt her hands," Shouto supplies quietly, his eyes fixed on the girl. "We were all locked in a shipping container. My fire and Inasa's wind wouldn't work without hurting everyone else too."
"So Toph just says, 'metal comes from earth' and started beating the hell outta the wall!" Yoarashi continues the story eagerly. "And then she punched us outta there, and she made a plan to beat the villains together, and then we got the kids out, and then we locked the villains in a crate!"
"And then Shouto and I made a playground and called you from one of the villain's phones," Beifong finished tersely. "Is it just you and the water people here?"
"Yes," Endeavor affirms. "The Water Hose team."
Beifong pouts all of a sudden, blowing on a strand of hair that hangs over her face. "Aw man. I'm never gonna meet Pixie-bob, am I?"
"Tooooopppphhh!" the wind boy whines. "We're meeting the Number Two Hero! You can't start talking about some mountain rescue hero now!"
Toph arches an eyebrow, facing Enji. "Just watch me," she deadpans. Yoarashi collapses dramatically. "Pixie-bob makes monsters out of rock and soil. She can cause landslides—or stop landslides—and basically make mountains if she wanted to."
Enji pauses to stare, surprised she has the audacity to actually start discussing this with him. But her hands are shaking, and he suspects that talking helps distract her from the pain. He sneaks a look at Shouto, who seems just as flabbergasted.
"...The cat-theme they have doesn't make any sense, but I'll let it slide. Ragdoll is weird but she can sense people, and I can sense people, so I like her too. Tiger can stay because he fights in a skirt, and I respect that…"
At this point the wind boy is laughing boisterously, and Beifong stops to grin. Shouto doesn't say anything, but he's clearly listening. Behind them on the playground, one of the boys trips and begins to bawl.
"Oh no!" Yoarashi exclaims sympathetically, hobbling to his feet. "Yuuto-chan, everything's fine! DON'T WORRY—" And then Yoarashi falls flat on his face.
Beifong's head turns to him sharply. "Quit running around, dummy." She slides her foot across the ground and the rock in front of Yoarashi disappears into the ground. Enji finishes wrapping one hand and moves onto the next, his frown deepening.
"You shouldn't be using your quirk right now, Ms. Beifong," Endeavor warns her. "You're already injured, and it's against the law. You three may have been able to fight off your captors, but what if they'd been stronger?"
"Then I'd beat them," Beifong answers bluntly, lifting her head. "And if they were strong enough to defeat me, I would still beat them."
Somehow she manages to look Endeavor straight in the eye as she says this. The look on her face is chilling, her expression set in stone. He's never met someone so young with so much arrogance.
Except maybe himself. He can't decide if he likes this girl's attitude or if it's just irritating.
"Toph!" Yoarashi exclaims, rolling onto his back. "You're so awesome. You gotta marry me, we're gonna make such a cool hero partners—"
"I'm not marrying anyone that can't beat me in a fight," Beifong replies with a mean look, as if this is a common argument between them. Endeavor focuses on her hands, biting the inside of his cheek to stop from snorting out loud. "So that rules out you, Twinkletoes."
The boy is undeterred. "I'll be stronger when we're older! Then I'll beat you!" He declares it like a heartfelt confession of love.
Enji finishes wrapping her hands and turns to the wind boy reluctantly. "Does your ankle hurt?"
The boy gets the biggest smile on his face and sticks his right foot into the air. "Shouto iced it earlier so I can't feel it! I never knew Endeavor knew first aid! This is amazing!"
Shouto and Beifong both scoff at the wind boy's antics. "Every hero knows first aid," Enji growls out, testing out the boy's range of motion. "We're usually on the scene before any first responders, so it's necessary. Don't put weight on that foot." He doesn't care for this part of the job, but he'd much rather deal with three slightly-older children than the twelve toddlers in the Water Hoses' care.
"Roger that!" Yoarashi salutes him. Enji's eyes slide over to his son again.
"You're not hurt?"
"No." Shouto's eyes are fixed on the Beifong girl's hands.
"Good." Enji stands. "All of you come with me, there's a van coming to transport you to the hospital."
"Shouto too?" The earth girl inquires hopefully. She's moved to be on Shouto's fire-side, and now that they're all standing she looks even smaller between the two boys. He shoots his son a questioning look, but the boy doesn't meet his eye.
"Yes," Endeavor answers, "Shouto still needs an official check up like the rest of you, and you each will have individual accounts to tell the police."
"So it's over?" She asks softly, face turned up to Endeavor neutrally.
"It is," he promises.
Beifong sucks in a deep breath of air and sighs loudly. Then she turns to the wind boy and elbows him twice in the arm, quick as a cat. It's oddly graceful, and he wonders if she's being trained in martial arts.
"OW! TOPH!"
"That's for being an airhead all the time!" She shouts at him. "I promised to punch you but I can't wait that long! I'm glad we didn't die!" her voice sort of breaks at the end, but she doesn't cry.
"Aw, Toph, I love you too!" He shouts back.
The Water Hose woman coos. "They're adorable. I can't wait to have kids."
"Ah," her husband looks nervous, still smoking from where his suit caught fire from that Himari girl, "Maybe not too many, please?"
Endeavor supposes this is the best way a mass kidnapping could turn out, but he doesn't have to like it. He looks away to oversee the other children as they file into the van.
Toph whips around to confront Shouto, who goes stock-still at the expression on her face. She glares at him for a little longer before wrapping her arms around him in a wordless hug, favoring his fire-side.
"Thanks for warming us up and everything. And icing my hands." She mumbles. After a long silence, Shouto lets his arms settle around her in return.
"You're welcome," he replies.
Suddenly there's a shout from Inasa and they're all but attacked by the bigger boy, and he immediately uses his quirk to lift them up into a spinning, flying mess. "GROUP HUG! WE MAKE SUCH A GREAT TEAM!" He laughs joyously while Toph screams and Shouto silently hangs on for dear life. "WE'LL BE THE ELEMENTAL TRIO OF THE HERO WORLD! Isn't that an awesome group name?"
"It's LAME!" The girl shrieks. "Put me down! When I barf I'm gonna aim for you!"
"Hey!" Endeavor barks at the three of them. "I told you to stay off your leg, get down!"
Looking properly chastised, Yoarashi lets them all float lazily to the ground, apologizing over and over. Beifong takes over for Enji in berating the wind boy.
Enji just stares at Shouto. He shouldn't allow his boy to fraternize so much. There'll be no need for hero team-ups for the future Number One. By the look on Shouto's face he's well aware of that, so Enji says nothing. They'll be going over new self-defense tactics once this case is properly closed.
Beifong makes to lunge at the wind boy but Shouto deftly catches her before she can throw a punch with her injured hands. "I didn't say you could hug me!" She howls at Yoarashi.
"BUT YOU HUGGED SHOUTO!"
"SHOUTO DOESN'T FLY."
The wind boy settles down, having flown up again to hide from Beifong. "So can I get a hug too if I don't spin or make us fly?"
Beifong scowls, stepping away from Shouto and Yoarashi to cross her arms. "No. I've had enough of this mushy stuff. Hey you brats! Get moving, we gotta go!"
The boys trail after her, helping corral the last few kids. They've been reluctant to leave the jungle gym, but Toph's shout and seeing the older boys follow suit seems to be enough to convince them.
Endeavor shuts the door to the van while the three children are bickering.
Since none of the kids were severely injured, they choose to make the trip to a farther hospital, one in the center of the prefecture and closest to the precinct that was in charge of the case. When the van finally arrives at the hospital, swamped by reports and cameras, all fifteen kids are fast asleep.
The Water Hose duo exchange a look with Endeavor. "I think we should let them rest. It's been a stressful day for them all." With that, they begin to carry the smaller children inside in, two at a time given how they've seemed to pair up on their own.
Endeavor carries the oldest trio in together, turning off the flames on the majority of his costume. The Beifong girl is the only one to stir, though he expected her to be the most exhausted of them all.
As they pass through the children's ward she becomes more lucid, suddenly tilting her head so her ear rests firmly against his chest. Enji blinks down at the girl. He can't recall the last time any of his offspring had tried to do anything like this with him, not even Fuyumi, but the Beifong girl looks comfortable. Did she even know who was carrying her?
"Endeavor," she draws his attention. "We're at the hospital?" she asks, though she sounds rather certain of herself. He wonders again how her quirk works.
He grunts in acknowledgement. She then turns to press her face against Yoarashi's shirt and mutters quietly, almost too muffled for him to hear, "I don't want to go home."
Odd.
But, he assumes she's disappointed that their brief spot in the limelight is over. She seems very proud of her efforts to save the other children, and no amount of scolding could change that. So Enji brushes off her comment as petulant and child-like. She comes from a rich family, and she probably thinks of it as a boring life compared to today's excitement. A child like her couldn't understand just how fortunate this situation turned out.
Doubt still stirs in his gut.
"What are you talking about?" Endeavor asks slowly, immediately knowing he's going to regret it. He should be walking faster so he can get rid of her. But then again, he was walking so slowly so he didn't have to deal with the toddlers.
Beifong blinks a few times, realizing she had been overheard. "My parents don't understand," she says finally, lowering her eyes. "Nevermind. They can't stop me anyway."
"Stop you from what?" He doesn't like how this is all sounding. Beifong is vague, but it's clear she's upset about something.
"Doesn't matter what," she decides, and turns her head away angrily.
That seems to be the end of it for now. He'll make a note of it in his report, but there wasn't much to go off of. Toph Beifong doesn't seem scared of going home, just… unwilling. But then again, Enji highly doubts that this girl has a healthy sense of fear if she chose to confront ten villains rather than wait for help. And there was another issue of the girl's quirk not being properly registered by her parents or doctor. Is that what Beifong meant when she said they 'don't understand' her? It's a huge oversight to mis-identify a quirk so powerful, but given that she's blind and looks like a doll, she must be underestimated often.
Parents weren't all-seeing and all-knowing. Her records have a mistake, that's all.
Endeavor is still thinking about it as he deposits each child on their own cot, leaving Toph for last since Shouto's still fast asleep. Enji frowns at the angry look on the seven-year-old girl's face, but as he sits down between her and Shouto her anger melts into confusion.
"Why are you still here?"
Enji rolls his eyes. "You and Yoarashi were injured. Your parents were worried, and I'll be expected to reassure them as the lead-hero on this mission." He doesn't bother hiding the disdain in his tone. He hates talking to parents, they always ask prying questions about his family like they have any right to know the details of his life.
Beifong snorts. "Good luck avoiding a lawsuit."
He frowns questioningly at her before remembering she's blind and rolling his eyes. "What do you mean?" he bites out the question. "There were no issues with how we handled this operation. You're all safe."
She raises her hands pointedly. "You did that to yourself," Enji argues irritably, "I wasn't even there."
(And damn it does that make him frustrated. While the children are all safe, Endeavor doesn't believe this case is over. It was too simple. How could the group that simultaneously abducted fifteen children lose a fight to said children? The captured villains were in for a long night of questioning.)
"I'm not the one blaming you," Beifong replies lightly, though there's a small frown on her face. "There's no way my parents are gonna believe it's not your fault. 'Our little flower, punching through steel? That's absurd. How could you let this happen?'" Her voice takes on a mocking, high-pitched tone to imitate her mother. "They're not gonna believe I did this on my own." She seems... disappointed, somehow.
"Why not? The evidence is all there." Endeavor asks annoyedly. He really hopes her parents aren't as insufferable as she claims.
Beifong lets her hands drop back onto her stomach. "Yeah, well," she prevaricates again, shutting her eyes. "You'd be surprised how blind people with working eyeballs can be."
For the first time Endeavor finds himself agreeing with the sour little girl. He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms with a scoff. He figures now is as good a time as any to bring it up... "Is that why your quirk isn't properly documented?"
She exhales slowly. He can't read even a hint of emotion on her face. "I'm tired," Beifong deflects the topic neatly. "Thanks for saving us or whatever."
So much for brushing this off as a child's petulance. Now he's certain that something's wrong. "You saved yourself, Toph," Enji admits gruffly, getting up from his chair. "That cannot be overlooked."
He gives his report after meeting the Beifong family. They're not quite that horrible, and they don't threaten to sue him, but they do brush off every comment about their daughter's quirk up until Enji informs them that her quirk registration will be updated by a physician. He watches the smile freeze on Mrs. Beifong's face, the stony look Mr. Beifong casts his way.
"That's not necessary, Mr. Todoroki," Lao Beifong says at last. Enji bristles at the use of his civilian name. He's in costume for god's sake. "We'd feel more comfortable arranging an appointment with our family physician at this time. Toph is so young, she wouldn't feel at ease with some no-name doctor at this public facility."
"It's already been arranged, I'm afraid," Enji replies flatly. "Her registration doesn't match up with what we witnessed at the warehouse in the slightest, and unless you want to call into question the validity of over twenty eyewitness reports, I would allow the quirk doctors here to re-evaluate her abilities."
"I'll still have to decline," Lao's jaw is set, and for once, Enji can see the resemblance between the man before him and his stubborn daughter. "For the sake of my daughter's comfort, you see. She's just been through an awful situation, same as your youngest son." Enji stares. Just what is this asshole insinuating about Shouto? "If you or your people take issue with my decision, please contact my lawyer. We'll be taking our daughter home now to recuperate in peace."
There's already a sleek black car idling by the entrance to the hospital. The girl passes by Enji, a curtain of loose hair shielding her face. Her mother holds her hand, and Enji never would've thought he'd see that arrogant brat look so cowed. It's infuriating in far more ways than he expected. He can't catch the mother's eye; she looks straight ahead to avoid him, statuesque and austere.
Sweet Kami, he's never been outclassed so blatantly. Who were these Beifongs anyway? Enji watches them with steel in his eyes. There is something wrong with this picture, and he won't rest until he finds out what.
"This isn't over," Enji says to Lao Beifong as a doctor he's never seen before signs off on the girl's release forms.
He's met by cold sea-green eyes and a frigid smile. "Yes, it is," Lao replies, turning his back on the hero.