"We referenced your quirk quite a bit while conducting our research on Eri, so I know a great deal about you, Erasure Hero."
Aizawa felt a heavy weight keeping him pressed into the floor while his body attempted to recover from the fall. He could feel his own capture weapon covering his eyes but knew one of Overhaul's cronies had gotten to him.
"Fortunately, I was able to isolate you from your friends without resorting to lethal force."
This was bad, very bad. He should've known he would be targeted by the Shie Hassaikai if he participated in the raid, but there was no way he would let Midoriya out of his sight. The things he did for his students…he would do it all again if he could.
He felt something sharp poke into his back. It felt too shallow of a wound and too blunt of a blade to be a knife, especially his own. His arms felt stiff all of a sudden, too slow to maneuver this guy off him and escape.
"You'll be much more useful to us alive."
He gritted his teeth in frustration as he realized Kurono, Overhaul's right-hand man, had used his quirk on him and there was nothing he could do to defend or save himself.
"Erasing quirks…that's an ability Overhaul finds very appealing."
Kurono couldn't believe his luck. After months of fine-tuning Eri's blood for Overhaul's erasure bullets, he finally had the source: the pro hero, Eraserhead, defenseless underneath him. He pulled off his mask and slid off Eraserhead onto the floor, placing the hero's tanto in his lap. He remembered the first time he heard the stories about the formidable Erasure Hero. He allowed himself to feel the slightest bit of fear! What a fool he was to let this pathetic hero scare him! Eraserhead couldn't move faster than a tortoise at this point, nor could he speak. Without his eyes, he was powerless. Easy pickings to use for Overhaul's dream.
He pulled out his phone and dialed the first number he could think of. He wasn't quite sure who was still fighting and who was out of commission, so he kept his fingers crossed. It would be a pain to take care of Eraserhead by himself, but if he had no choice, he would do it.
The line on the other end picked up after one ring.
"Kurono, thank God! I wasn't sure if the heroes got you or not."
"I'm fine, Nemoto. Can you move where you are?"
"Yeah, I'm a little roughed up, but I'll be fine. Where are you?"
"Sub-level 2. I've got Eraserhead. Go get Eri from her room and meet me here. Overhaul wants us to take them to another safehouse and he'll meet us there after he cleans up this mess."
"Roger that! I'll be there soon."
"You better be," Kurono said sternly into the phone before hanging up. As he slid it back into his pocket, he heard a thunderous rumble coming from above. He immediately looked up, worried the fight had moved itself down to their level, or that another hero had discovered their location. Luckily, neither of these seemed to be the case. Overhaul and the others were doing well to keep the fight contained upstairs. Kurono just hoped Nemoto would hurry up.
He knelt next to Eraserhead, limbs still moving sluggishly in a futile attempt to escape.
"Oh, stop struggling. It's no use," Kurono said as he pulled a thick zip tie from his coat. Grabbing Eraserhead's wrists, he forced them behind his back, using little effort to tie them together. "I struck you with the short-hand, so you won't be able to move normally for another hour or so."
Satisfied with his work, he stood up and walked over to one of the shelving units unaffected by the action above. Just as he expected, he found a metal briefcase lying on one of the shelves, opening it to take the chance to check its contents. Five syringes remained neatly laid in a row surrounded by protective foam. He pulled one out to make sure they hadn't been damaged or tampered with. As he inspected the final syringe, he hummed his approval. He would need to keep these for later.
He heard footsteps hurrying in his direction and turned around, preparing himself for a fight. When his eyes recognized Nemoto emerging from the shadows with little Eri in his arms, he took a deep breath to settle the adrenaline that had threatened to overtake his cool composure.
"Finally," he grumbled, closing the briefcase. Nemoto set Eri down as Kurono approached him. Even with his mask on, Nemoto couldn't hold back an angry huff.
"What do you mean, 'Finally?' I didn't take that long to get down here, which kind of surprised me, considering I had to go back for Eri." Kurono ignored him as he approached Eraserhead once again, placing the tanto knife inside his coat before picking up Eri and the briefcase.
"Shut up and let's go. You get to carry Eraserhead," he said as he began walking towards the hall Nemoto entered from. Nemoto begrudgingly obliged, taking a moment to eye the blindfolded hero.
"So, this is Eraserhead, huh?" he asked cocking his head this way and that to get a better look. Eraserhead's teeth were no longer clenched, but his features still seemed tight with frustration. "I didn't expect him to be so…scruffy."
"Hurry up. We don't have much time before the heroes make their way down here," Kurono said as he and Eri proceeded down the hallway. He hated small talk, purely because it wasted time and rarely opened the door to meaningful conversation. It was entirely annoying and inefficient, not to mention a distraction. They may have had the advantage, but they were not out of the woods yet, and their window of escape continued to close.
He looked behind him to find Nemoto practically tripping on his coattails with Eraserhead in tow. He glanced at Eri to find her staring straight ahead, quiet, compliant, with cheeks devoid of useless tears. He typically wouldn't carry her, but the time crunch necessitated it. Even if she didn't understand exactly was going on, she understood enough from the tenseness of those around her once the heroes actually discovered the underground tunnels. Because she was so small, she didn't understand a lot of things; he hoped she would know, one day, how vital she was in changing quirk society as they knew it.
Kurono looked down at his watch. They had been walking for some time. They needed to hurry, otherwise his quirk's effects on Eraserhead would wear off before they secured a safe getaway.
"Can you get us a van?" he asked Nemoto as he recognized one of their many surface exits. He stopped several feet from the door to avoid detection in case someone lingered too close. With police and heroes swarming the area, they had to be extra careful.
"Of course!" Nemoto replied as he laid Eraserhead on the ground and approached the door. He took his mask off before cracking the door open, checking if the coast was clear before slipping through. If Kurono remembered correctly, this exit led them to an abandoned parking lot at least five blocks away from the main house. He set down Eri and the briefcase, and hauled the hero onto his shoulder. He swore under his breath, wishing Nemoto would move faster. He looked down at Eri, looking down at her feet.
"I won't be able to carry you to the van, so you'll need to run with me," he stated. He stared at her until she nodded. Not three minutes later, his phone buzzed in his pocket, breaking the silence.
"I'm right outside the door. You're all clear," he heard Nemoto say through the receiver. He immediately pocketed his phone, picked up the briefcase and kicked open the door, rushing out to the white van in front of him. He looked behind him and saw Eri catching up to his pace, her running start probably delayed from being startled. Nemoto had been courteous enough to slide open the back door for them, so it was easy enough for him to unceremoniously dump Eraserhead into the back, then lift Eri before climbing in himself. As soon as the sliding door clicked shut, they sped off. Nemoto didn't drive too much, but enough to merge inconspicuously into civilian traffic.
Eri sat with her knees hugged to her chest as Kurono analyzed their surroundings, making sure they were not being followed or pursued. He grabbed the briefcase and opened it, not risking taking his eyes off the hero. He noticed his unbound legs kicking, gaining both speed and force as the quirk wore off. He quickly closed the lid of the briefcase again and pulled out another zip tie. Before Eraserhead could start kicking at him and Eri with full force, he clamped the hero's legs together using his own legs and tied his ankles together. He looked up and saw Eri staring at the two, wide-eyed with fear. She only met Kurono's mean stare for a second before hiding her face behind her knees. He didn't need to pay her any mind for now. He still had one thing left to do.
Resuming his previous task, he opened the briefcase and prepared one of the syringes. As he lightly pressed the plunger to make sure the sedative inside moved smoothly through the needle, Eraserhead's mouth moved as if he were trying to speak.
"Where…is…Eri-chan?" he rasped. Kurono leaned over him, holding his head still as he swept his coarse black hair away from his neck.
"I told you not to struggle," Kurono hissed into his ear before he jabbed the needle into his neck. Soon, the hero's squirming resistance slowed, then stopped completely. Kurono slowly moved away from the unconscious hero, allowing himself to relax and lean against the van wall.
"Everything good back there?" Nemoto asked, not bothering to remove his eyes from the road.
"Yeah. We're good," Kurono replied, returning the used syringe to the briefcase before clasping it shut. "Just keep driving."