In this chapter:
The students have a lot of questions and the teachers figure out they just have to deal with things

4 – Hidden and revealed

Aizawa crouched down on the safety railing that prevented (or at least warned) normal people from doing things what he did on rooftops. A large gap separated him from the next building over. It was a construction or rather a demolition site of a building that was soon to be torn down in a favour of a new one. This building had been rendered unusable by fire some weeks ago, courtesy of a villain who had had a too powerful quirk even for his own comfort. Police investigations and some legal issues had hindered the demolition process, thus here it still was, standing. Some of the buildings nearby −mainly apartment residences and small enterprise offices− had also suffered some damage and had been mostly emptied for renovations, but the heroes and firefighters had managed to keep the worst damage in one building. This building too was a sacrifice made to prevent further damage done by villains.

Staring over the gap between him and this sacrifice, Aizawa silently inspected the darkened walls and glassless windows of the three storey building. A soft, cool breeze touched him on its way past the city and waved his hair as he brought his hand up to his capture gear, ready to use it again. It was the type of cooling wind that often helped him to remain calm and keep his thoughts in what mattered. Tonight, however, Aizawa's mind was clear regardless. By the time the gust reached the next building, he was already moving towards his next course of action from his perch on the railing and over the edge of the roof. His target was hopefully waiting for him somewhere behind the burnt walls.

.

.

Izuku pulled his hero suit up, slipping his hands into the sleeves and started adjusting his gloves next. The lunch break was over and the food was comfortably being converted into energy in his stomach. He always felt energized around this time of the day. Not that he disliked the normal school lectures of UA, but getting into the afternoon classes and hero training was definitely something special compared to it.

Beside him, Kirishima had finished putting his hero costume on and hit his hardened fists together with a loud clang to get into the mood. "Guys, what do you think we'll do today?" he asked Midoriya and everyone else still around in the changing room, looking over his shoulder for someone with an opinion. "It's not often we're asked to gather in an auditorium."

"It's downright never we use the auditoriums, dumbass," Bakugo grunted and slammed his closet door shut. Huffing, ill-tempered, he turned to walk out of the room without waiting for the others. "We better not be doing some rescue or stealth stuff. I want to get into blowing up things."

Izuku laughed a little as Bakugo, Kirishima and Kaminari exited the changing room, arguing about what counted as hero-like behaviour. Again. By the time the three were out of hearing range, the conversation had reached the same natural conclusion it always did. Which was nowhere.

"He does have a point though. I was wondering about that too," Todoroki said and stood up, stopping to wait for Midoriya to finish adjusting his shoes. "Normally we get appointed to one of the training grounds or go to the USJ. I don't recall ever being called to an auditorium for hero training."

Tokoyami stopped by the door, his hand stilling on the doorknob, and turned to look back at them. "Could it be something related to intelligence gathering? It's not hard to imagine something like that in our curriculums."

"Wouldn't the classroom work just fine for that?" Midoriya asked a bit sceptically, interested to see what they would do today as well. UA had proven time and time again it could surprise them so anything new tingled his senses. "Or maybe they just want to set up the mood."

"Mm." Tokoyami nodded, opening the door now and all three of them exited, starting to walk towards the auditorium they had been called to. "Well we will see soon enough. Now that we finally have his classes again today, maybe you will get to ask Aizawa-sensei about all the things you wanted to know about last night, Midoriya."

Izuku raised his hands up in disagreement. "I don't think he'd appreciate me asking things like that in the middle of class. Better be patient and ask after school."

Todoroki looked at the floor in thought and frowned slightly. "I'm not so sure sensei will show up for the class today."

Izuku looked at him, surprised, but found himself agreeing. "You think so?"

Todoroki nodded. "At least I'm sceptical," he clarified. "Besides the one who announced the lesson plan was All Might."

Tokoyami hummed a little in thought. "From what I've heard, no one has seen Aizawa-sensei around. I went to the teacher's lounge between classes and didn't see him around there either." They turned the corner and were met with a sight of Iida walking briskly towards them. "Well," Tokoyami said. "That's something we'll see soon too."

"Everyone! You mustn't dawdle! The class will soon start!" Iida exclaimed well before reaching them. "Was there still someone in the changing room?"

"No, we're the last ones," Izuku said. "On the boys side at least."

"Don't we still have some minutes before class?" Tokoyami asked and looked for a clock from a wall to check. "I thought we were on time."

"A proper UA student must always−!"

"Yes, yes, fine," Izuku interrupted and turned Iida around before the lecture progressed. "We should go then, right?" As they set out again towards the right auditorium, Izuku turned to Todoroki again to continue their conversation. "So, why are you sceptical about Aizawa-sensei?"

"Well it's just…" Todoroki thought for a moment what to say. "Something didn't seem right so I watched the video again."

"Todoroki-kun! Are you saying you question how our teacher does his job?" Iida objected loudly.

"That's not it, Iida-kun," Izuku hurried to correct his friend. "You're confused about the context. We were wondering if sensei was going to show up to class today or not." He turned back to Todoroki. "You thought something was off too, Todoroki-kun? Watching that video, something did start feeling wrong to me."

Both Tokoyami and Iida looked confused. "What do you mean?"

Izuku frowned, remembering back to the video he had now watched four maybe five times. "It's how he moves. In the video Aizawa-sensei doesn't use his left hand for anything. Not even while climbing back up to the roof."

"That's what it was? I couldn't identify what exactly," Todoroki admitted and looked at him firmly. "You really do look at this kind of stuff pretty closely, don't you Midoriya?"

"Yeah, well… it's an old habit." Izuku touched his chin in thought. "But yes, I think it is the hand that bothers me. Even when encouraging the boy to join his parents, the boy was standing on his left side, yet he still used his right hand."

Todoroki listened silently Midoriya explain his observations further, voicing his thought when the words quieted into a mumble. "I guess it wouldn't be too farfetched to assume he maybe got injured, but in that case he does keep it hidden really well."

"I see," Tokoyami said, surprised but he decided to trust his classmate's observations and judgement on the matter. "Then he could indeed not make it class, if in the addition to dealing with the aftermath, he'd have to get himself treated."

"Is that really all there is to it?" Iida wondered. "With Recovery Girl around, that shouldn't take long. I still think he simply has business to attend to. We mustn't assume the worst."

Izuku then laughed a little. "Plus we know he is the type of person to come to work even with serious injuries though." His laugh died slowly. "I felt I was on the right track about this, but… at the same time it is a relief to hear you disagree."

Iida patted him to the shoulder. "It is normal and admirable to show such concern." He patted some more. "But worry not, Midoriya-kun. I am sure everything is quite alright."

"He was able to move around without it being too obvious something was wrong," Todoroki said as well as they reached the auditorium door. "In any case it can't be too bad."

They had been called to one of the smaller auditoriums of the school. This one was maybe one third of the size of the big main auditorium where the school wide assemblies and such were held. This room too had an official name, not that Midoriya remembered what it was (knowing UA it was probably something he didn't expect), but everyone referred to it as the blue auditorium because of the navy blue seats. He did remember coming here once before, twice if passing through while searching for another room during the first week counted...

They arrived approximately five minutes before the lesson would start and with Hagakure and Ashido skipping in after them and closing the door, the whole class was present. Izuku noted the presence of three teachers waiting for them in the front of the room. Aizawa wasn't there, but instead for some reason Midnight and Present Mic were accompanying All Might and discussing quietly about something amongst themselves.

Hearing the door shut, All Might looked up towards the class and smiled. "Is that everyone?" he asked and started counting the students. Satisfied with the number he ended up with, he walked to the podium in front of the seats. "Well then, let us begin."

"Isn't there still a couple of minutes before the class is supposed to start?" Kaminari asked as he moved to grab a seat along with his classmates.

"Why are we doing hero training in a lecture room?" Hagakure asked, sounding more interested than confused or annoyed about the matter. "Are we doing something new? Is it fun? Or just hard? Both?"

Toshinori felt his smile falter and he adopted a bit more serious tone to catch the students' attention. "We are doing something new alright and as for will it be hard, well: I am hoping it won't. Everyone is here so there is no reason for us to not start early. There will be no regular lesson schedules this afternoon. Today, class 1-A will be doing a special assignment. This comes straight from the principal."

"The principal?" many students repeated aloud, baffled, but more attentive now.

"Special? Is that the reason Midnight and Present Mic are here as well?" Bakugo asked and threw his head back, glaring at the teachers along his nose. "What is this then: a test or something? Or some kind of new UA trial? Whatever but it is interesting, right?"

A loud snap made most of the class jump a little and everyone turned to look at Midnight as she lowered her whip after giving the poor wall behind her a good taste of it.

"For the record," she said and pointed at Bakugo with her whip. "This is no test. There will be no grades. But whether you find it interesting or not, we're expecting you to be serious about it. This is a special lesson for a reason."

"And we're here because All Might here, who was supposed to be your teacher today, can't watch your backs if things turn ugly," Present Mic added, not sounding nearly as upbeat as he usually did. "So me and Midnight will accompany you outside school."

It was what they said that finally caught the rest of their attentions. Many eyebrows shot up at what Mic had said but no one voiced their thoughts.

Ugly? Izuku repeated, almost thinking he had heard something wrong. Except that he was 100% sure he had heard right. Wait… outside? We're going out?

All Might coughed and the class's eyes turned back at him. "Yes, unfortunately. I wish I could help you out more there but… you know…" He scratched his skinny cheek, clearly still having trouble adjusting to the fact he couldn't just go out saving people anymore.

Izuku looked at his mentor trying to guess what it was he would say next. What is going on? Just what are we doing?

"Sensei." Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "What exactly is this special assignment? Dancing around the subject is hardly professional."

"I would have gotten there by now if no one had said anything in between," All Might assured her. Then he gave her a thumbs up. "And you're exactly right, young lady. We mustn't beat around the bush. Starting early makes no difference if we were to do it any longer. So without further ado, your assignment today is…" Holding a short dramatic pause he raised and held up a lesson card with one word on it. "This!"

.

.

A little earlier that day, as the students were starting to line up for lunch or making preparations for afternoon classes, the principal of UA had called three teachers into his office. Having finished his explanation on the subject at hand, Nedzu watched carefully how the expressions on the faces of his teachers changed as they processed the information.

"We're going to have the students help with this?" Present Mic confirmed, sounding clearly sceptic about the whole plan. "You sure that will be fine? Or necessary? Man, I told you me and Midnight would go. No need to get the young listeners involved."

Toshinori shook his head as well. "I can't agree with you, sir. Not in this matter. I understand that having more hands on the deck would be advantageous, but sending our students out to deal with uncertain, potentially dangerous things should be out of the question as a school and to us as heroes. Especially students who have already seen and been through quite enough."

Midnight looked at the two men beside her for a moment and they glanced at her, expecting her to say something to back them up as well. She turned to Nedzu. "I'm fine with this if you so decide." She closed her eyes, ignoring the exasperated and very loud sigh Mic gave beside her. "Honestly these kids have the right to be involved if anyone and I can't deny it would help. But I would like you to explain why."

"Midnight…" All Might frowned at her, not believing she had agreed, but Nedzu's little cough silenced him.

"It is quite simple," principal Nedzu said and poured himself some tea. "Firstly, as Midnight pointed out, this will be easier with more people working on it and we certainly can't relieve our whole staff for a mission in the middle of the day."

Toshinori shook his head. "Perhaps so but principal, is that not a cue for the police and the other heroes who are doing this as their full time job not our students?"

Nedzu shook his head. "That is where my point number two comes in. Which is publicity."

"…What?"

Nedzu sighed a little at their confused faces and set down his teacup, hopping down from his chair. He walked to the window and continued to explain as he watched over the school grounds spreading in front of him. "I'm sure I don't need to tell you how bad our school's current publicity and trust situation is. It going further down will only hinder our goal of raising promising heroes to turn the tides in the times of need after we no longer can ourselves. That is why what happened this morning and it becoming such huge headline news, no matter how much Eraserhead dislikes it, is exactly what our school needed right now."

All three heroes listening were quiet for the moment, until Mic broke the silence by scoffing. "Oh. I get it. If the police or the heroes move, the press will know this might not have been such a pretty clear cut case after all." He frowned at Nedzu's back, disagreeing on basic level with the whole thing, partly because he was worried. "So you're going to send out our students and mask it as some sort of field trip, aren't you?"

Toshinori felt his face tighten in what was borderline anger.

"Hmh…" Midnight huffed a little. "So. The school needs a publicity stunt to boost people's confidence in us. And against all odds, Aizawa suddenly makes the cut. I can't say I like this."

"Principal, this is downright outrageous." All Might's voice rose slightly and he stepped forward. "You're trading the students' safety for a publicity boost and possibly Aizawa-kun's −"

"Of course we're not taking such risks here," Nedzu stopped him and turned around. "I care for our students' like all of you do. This will be an educational experience for them and the job of you three will be to prevent things from getting out of hand and guide the students accordingly. Recovery Girl is also on standby, just in case. Only a few people in the police know anything about this and I want to keep it that way. Those few will be helping you as well. As for Eraserhead, since it is him we're talking about, we can explain things to the media as simply avoiding fame for the case for now. I also happen to have faith in him and I suggest you try as well, Mic. I see that worry scowl stuck on your face, you know."

Present Mic let out an exasperated sigh, throwing his head back and tried to shake off all the objections he had on the tip of his tongue. "Jeez, fine. I still don't think this is a good idea but you're supposed to be the smart one I guess. That doesn't mean I have to like it, right? You're going to have us do this anyway."

.

.

"Search?"

All Might nodded and lowered the lesson card. "More precisely that and crime investigation."

"Whoah, what, seriously?" Kirishima bellowed and stood up, leaning over the backs of the seats in front of him. "We're going to investigate a crime scene or something? Is that kind of thing okay for UA students?"

Izuku could see his mentor's features darken for a second before All Might replied. "Not usually. Crime scenes and their relations are not something amateurs can poke around and mess with, for the sake of the truth. Plus as you are students, there are certain risks not many schools outside UA would take. But the school has its… reasons." He grimaced a little but quickly shook it off to give way for a small praising smile. "So you are not totally incorrect there, young Kirishima. However, principal Nedzu has decided that this case requires special treatment. As such! May I move your attention to the details of this assignment?" He turned around to point a remote control at the screen in the front of the auditorium and it flickered on obediently, revealing a news site they all had seen already today. "I assume you might have heard of this case during the morning, yes?"

Izuku's eyebrows rose as he looked at the hero news collage on the screen about the kidnapping case last night. "Why are we investigating this?" he asked before even realised he had opened his mouth. "I mean!" he hurried to add as his confused tone had all the teacher look at him. "Aizawa-sensei caught the villains and the boy is safe."

"Right!" Uraraka backed him up, albeit looking baffled and a bit worried. "Wasn't this case solved already?"

"Technically yes, this case is done," Midnight replied, tapping her whip against her shoulder. "In that regard at least," she then added and the students exchanged glances with one another.

Yaoyorozu raised her hand again. "Sensei, what do you mean? Is there something wrong? Or have the news been fabricated? What about the video?"

"What the news say is true: the boy is with his parents and the villains are in police custody. And I can 100% guarantee that the person in the video is indeed Aizawa," Present Mic explained and snapped his fingers. "The case is solved yet the problem is this: no one knows how it happened."

Before any of the students could comment, All Might continued. "Aizawa-kun… no, Eraserhead was asked by the police to investigate the case behind the scenes as a countermeasure to villains tracking down the police and heroes' movements. Aizawa-kun received details about the other ongoing investigations in secret but outside those little moments of contact, which barely counted, no one knows what he did that night or how he solved the case."

"Is that what we're going to find out?" Todoroki asked and a bit of realisation sparked in his eyes as he felt like the dots connected. "In other words, is this is mock investigation? Otherwise we could simply ask Aizawa-sensei about the details. Is that why he isn't here?"

Present Mic sighed. "Don't get ahead of yourself, young listener. That's where this goes south. Have you already forgotten that the card we showed you said 'search' not 'investigation'?"

Izuku felt his blood still for split of the second as the ideas and guesses in his head, that his classmates had momentarily turned positive, suddenly took a dive towards the worst. At the other end of the row, Bakugo seemed to get the same idea as he grunted, his face twitching into a deeper frown. "You're joking…"

All Might clicked the remote a couple of time again, bringing up the video they had watched together that morning. "Unfortunately, no jokes here, not today," he said and gestured towards the muted video playing behind him. "As young Yaoyorozu already mentioned the video, I assume you've seen it."

He clicked the remote again, this time bringing up a still image captured from the video. Izuku had seen it enough times to know that had the picture moved, his homeroom teacher crouching on the edge of the rooftop would next have darted away, avoiding a flashlight and disappearing from sight.

"Strictly speaking, we will not be searching just any leads about the case, but the main one." All Might walked a couple of steps to the screen and turned to face them, setting his hand on the picture screen. "This is the last known sighting of pro hero Eraserhead."

.

.

The capture cloth slid against his arm as Aizawa slowly lowered himself down from the roof along the soot covered wall. Careful not to make any extra noise, he moved his feet along the bricks as softly and quickly as he could, all the way down to the row of second floor windows. He stopped over a window near the corner of the building, crouching low against the wall, the hard fabric of his capture weapon securely circling around his arm to keep him in place.

A couple of quiet words exchanged in the room below him told him all what he needed to know right now. He had been right. He had found them. All it had taken was someone to carelessly pass too close to the window and a sound of heavy footsteps on a damaged, tiled floor.

Just as I thought…

Aizawa leant a little bit further down, listening to the voices carrying to him through the glassless window. From the sounds of it, there were two people in the room, the other clearly more nervous and unsure than the other, which was causing them to bicker. Still they were cautious. Quiet. Waiting. And annoyingly but not unexpectedly on the edge.

I need to make certain of the hostage's condition, Aizawa decided silently, sliding his free hand away from near the edge of the window to grab his phone. Is he here? All things considered, he might not be…

He got the answer almost in queue from the words spoken inside. The timid person was asking the other to be careful not to wake the boy up as something heavy again pressed and scratched against the floor.

He is here. And sleeping. …Good. Hopefully it's natural sleep, Aizawa thought, deciding to himself that if they had drugged the child somehow, he would throw in an extra punch. But the important thing was that he now knew the child was here and that two people were with him. He now needed a plan of action. There was still time before the deadline, which was one of the more positive things he could think of, alongside with the boy being seemingly unharmed.

Typing a backup request and instructions on his phone to send to the other heroes on the case, Aizawa decided this was the part his lone wolf act would no longer be the best course of action. Calling for backup was something he had decided earlier, but had the situation been in a favour of a more stealthy and silent approach, he had been ready to act accordingly on his own.

I'll wait here for back up and keep an eye out like I planned, Aizawa went through the plan in his head. He needed a good lookout spot. Somewhere close enough to follow the situation while staying hidden and yet come in contact with the backup when it arrived. Something more stable than hanging outside the window. The kidnappers are clearly agitated, I cannot take hasty actions. The best option is to l−

Aizawa tensed. His first hint that something was wrong was the long time his phone took to try and send the message. The next was the error message when the request couldn't be send.

The sounds coming from the inside changed and Aizawa grimaced as he understood what had just happened. "Tch!" I'm so stupid− He flicked his wrist and his capture weapon was detached from the pipes on the roof. He jumped away from the wall just in time before something −or someone huge crashed through the bricks, collapsing part of the wall around the corner, sending rubble flying through the last remnants of a quiet night.

Aizawa grunted, shielding himself from the rubble and staring down at the eyes of the person who had burst through the wall as they hung in the air for the few seconds before the momentum would die and gravity would again grab hold of them both.

Fine, Aizawa clicked his teeth and the hard fabric slid against his fingers as he pulled the capture weapon down to circle around himself. We'll do this hard way.

In the next chapter:
1-A students start playing detective and Aizawa has to improvise

A/N: I am clearly bad at keeping even a simple schedule...