Aizawa hated the way the villain's gloved hands brushed harshly over his stubble as he felt the grip on his chin tighten. He hated the way Overhaul continued to stare at him, force him this way and that to be examined as if he were a cut of meat to be sold at market.

"You can probably imagine how excited I am for this opportunity, Eraserhead," Overhaul explained as he stepped out of Aizawa's view. He returned a few moments later with a couple of large and empty syringes, setting them on a shiny metal tray nearby. He grabbed Aizawa's sleeve and used his quirk to quickly deconstruct it, reducing it to a neat short sleeve before Aizawa had a chance to use Erasure.

"Did you know that we referenced your quirk during our initial research?" he continued. "For how little we could find out about you, it still helped us immensely."

Aizawa's eyes widened. He remembered echoes of a similar question asked during his capture, but his mind couldn't process the implications until now.

"How long have you been following me?" Aizawa asked. Overhaul grabbed a tourniquet from the tray and tied it around Aizawa's bicep, pulling it taut.

"Long enough," he answered as he took an alcohol pad and thoroughly wiped down the crook of Aizawa's elbow. He kept one hand underneath the elbow to prevent any reflexive bending or struggles.

"Well congratulations. You have me," Aizawa retorted. "You can do whatever you want to me, so let Eri go. She has nothing more to do with this."

He wasn't surprised to feel Overhaul's gloved hand roughly slap his cheek. He heard Eri gap next to him, but he needed to focus on steeling himself for what was to come. He's dealt with plenty of beatings worse than this. In the meantime, he could still gauge the villain for more information.

"It's quite arrogant of you to think you can give me orders," Overhaul stated as he jabbed the syringe into Aizawa's arm with no warning, earning a hiss from the hero. Overhaul's eyes widened with greedy excitement as the syringe began to fill with Aizawa's blood. "No, having you both here is most advantageous. You will help me rid this diseased planet of quirks once and for all. Once everyone lines up to pay for our product, one source simply will not be enough. Unfortunately, this facility doesn't have all the necessary equipment we need, but we will make do and be thankful for what we have. I have you pesky heroes to thank for that. In the meantime, no talking."

Aizawa couldn't bear to listen to this villain's drawl any longer. While Overhaul busied himself with taking out the full syringe and replacing it with an empty one, Aizawa stole another glance at Eri. The poor girl trembled like a leaf in her chair, eyes glued to the syringe full of blood in Overhaul's hand. He knew that Overhaul had torn Eri apart and put her back together countless times, so drawing blood couldn't be that scary. However, like him, Eri seemed to hold her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

He stretched out his hand in the restraints as much as he could until his fingers brushed against hers. She looked down and, after a moment of pause, stretched out her fingers as well until three of hers managed to wrap around two of his.

"It's going to be okay," he whispered to the girl, curling one end of his mouth up into a subtle smile. She kept his comforting gaze and let out the breath she held in just moments earlier. He gently squeezed her fingers, and she instinctively squeezed his fingers in return. His reassurance didn't seem to last long, however. Eri's gaze glanced over his shoulder for a moment before her eyes suddenly widened in horror. He suddenly felt a chill travel down his spine and arms as he turned back to face a livid Overhaul.

"I said no talking!" he screamed as he punched Aizawa in the face. He yanked out the syringe just beginning to fill with blood and all but slammed it onto the tray. "Kurono, shut him up!"

As if he were a genie summoned from his bottle, Kurono appeared from behind Aizawa's chair. He stepped dangerously close, repelling Aizawa like a magnet as far back into his chair as he could move. Aizawa instinctively activated Erasure, anticipating another jab of Kurono's quirk. However, he didn't anticipate the punch to his stomach, knocking the wind out of him. He leaned forward, eyes watering while anxiously waiting for his lungs to expand with air once again. He felt his hair fall around his face as he couldn't stop himself from blinking. Before he could catch his breath, he felt a cloth forced in between his teeth and tied tightly around his head. He could feel some loose strands of hair tangled in the knot, tugging painfully at the nape of his neck. He took a few deep breaths through his nose before he slowly lifted his head and glared at the villains. Kurono silently backed away while Overhaul continued to fume.

"All you had to do was sit there," he said as he stepped closer. He grabbed the syringe and held it in front of Aizawa as if he were scolding a child. "Look what you made me do! You made me waste a syringe and blood! Do you realize just how valuable your blood is?" He practically threw the syringe back on the tray. Aizawa jolted at the clattering of glass and metal as it reverberated throughout the room. Overhaul took a deep breath, calming himself.

"No matter. Perhaps after I remake you, you will finally learn to behave." He raised his right hand and slowly plucked the glove off by the fingertips with his left. Aizawa felt the blood freeze in his veins as he watched Overhaul inch closer and closer with his exposed hand extended in front of him. He activated Erasure instinctively as he twisted his wrists under the restraints, feeling nothing short of helpless. Overhaul smirked behind his mask, noticing the hero's fear finally begin to surface behind his wide eyes.

"Your quirk's not going to save you here,"he taunted. Even with Aizawa's squirming, he covered the hero's eyes with his gloved hand, pressing Aizawa's head against the back of the chair. He leaned closer, slowly inching his other hand towards Aizawa's chest, free to use his quirk at will.

"Wait!"

He couldn't remember the last time he heard that tiny voice. He was so used to hearing it softly mumble apologies. Instead, it dared to yell out against him. He froze and turned his head to stare at Eri, the little girl whose red eyes pierced through his glare, even as tears freely fell down her cheeks.

"How dare you interrupt me while I'm working, you brat!" he yelled at her. Her body slightly crumpled into the chair, but her stare didn't waver.

"It's his first time in the chair, so he doesn't know how to be good," she said. "I want to show him how to be good, so please don't hurt him!"

Overhaul stood up straighter, keeping his gloved hand over Aizawa's eyes. He noticed how the hero under his hand also froze, catching Eri's words.

"Oh? You want to show the hero how to be good?" he asked mockingly as he motioned to the blindfolded and gagged Aizawa. Eri nodded.

"Well, I'm afraid that's not possible," he said. "You're a villain, Eri. You can never be good." He felt Aizawa shaking his head underneath his hand and pushed harder to immobilize it against the chair.

Eri looked down towards her legs, eyes watering once again. Overhaul observed her for a moment, then removed his hand from Aizawa's face. Aizawa blinked to regain his focus. He noticed that Overhaul had reached out for a new syringe but stopped and withdrew his gloved hand. Aizawa gazed at Eri briefly before turning his focus back to Overhaul, who sported another devious smirk underneath his mask.

"But I suppose I can make an exception this one time. I won't hurt the hero," Overhaul continued as he took a step towards Eri. She began to openly cry, shutting her eyes as he laid his bare hand on her arm.

However, nothing happened.

His eyes looked up and smiled at the Erasure Hero, eyes glowing red and the ends of his hair lifting off his shoulders. Eri tentatively peeked her eyes open as her cries dissolved into sniffles, confused when nothing happened and looked up at the hero. Aizawa maintained eye contact with Overhaul and shook his head, silently begging him to spare Eri. They both knew how this standoff would end, and Aizawa couldn't bear it.

"Just how long can you keep Erasure activated, I wonder?" Overhaul asked as he gripped Eri's arm tighter. She scrunched her eyes tight, waiting for the pain to end. Aizawa's eyes burned inside and out, and his head felt like it was about to explode. As much as he had trained his eyes to stay open for several minutes at a time, his most recent injuries had shortened that timespan immensely. His eyes began to tear up, to Overhaul's surprise, but did nothing to stop his eyelids from inevitably falling.

A shrill scream pierced the air. Aizawa's heart broke as he squeezed his eyes shut for an instant before re-activating his quirk. He felt a warm liquid fling onto the side of his face and his arm like paint splatter. Even as he canceled Overhaul's quirk once again, the damage had been done. Over half of Eri's body had been instantly disintegrated by Overhaul's quirk.

Blood pooled in and around her chair, staining the immaculate tile floor. Her one remaining eye lazily stared out into nothing. Aizawa desperately screamed her name, but his muffled cries fell on deaf ears. How could Overhaul murder her so casually, so gruesomely? It took all of Aizawa's energy not to vomit.

"Well, that was fun. But still gross," Overhaul mumbled to himself as he walked over to an industrial sink against the wall to wash up. Aizawa heard him but couldn't process the words. He couldn't save her. She had to survive. He was going to help her escape and show her there was more to life than this hellhole. But he was too weak to escape and stop Overhaul before something like this happened. How could he possibly call himself a hero now? He hung his head in both overwhelming grief and shame as his tears dripped onto his legs.

He distantly heard the faucet water turn off. He knew he should lift his head and re-assess the situation, but all his energy was spent. His neck suddenly felt stiff, and his hair dangled in front of his face like a curtain. He kept his eyes closed to help relieve the stinging from quirk overuse and crying, so he didn't notice when a gloved hand reached out towards him until he felt it grip his chin and tilt his head up.

"Look at me," Overhaul ordered. Aizawa reluctantly peeled his eyes open.

"I want you to know that I am going to remake Eri," he stated. He paused and watched Aizawa's eyes widen. "I also want you to know that I can unmake her again if you continue to disobey me. Do you understand?" Aizawa slowly nodded, still focused on the fact that Overhaul was going to bring Eri back. That's all he wanted.

Overhaul released his grip on Aizawa's chin and pulled his glove off once again.

"I honestly didn't think you'd be such a crybaby, Eraser," he sneered. "Some hero you are." With that, he laid his bare hand on Eri's other arm, and like a snap of his fingers, the little girl became whole again. Her eyes remained glazed over, staring out into nothing as if she were lost in her own little world. Aizawa briefly glanced over to make sure that the villain kept his word. He watched as Eri's eyes finally shut, passed out from her regeneration. He breathed a sigh of relief through his nose as he watched her tiny chest rise and fall with each breath. Before he allowed his eyes to flutter shut once again, he heard Overhaul say, "You can take them back to their room now, Kurono. Get Nemoto to help you and clean up this mess. We'll continue this later."