Paths Of A Hero

Summary: Hero or Vigilante? What is the difference? It used to be black and white, a boundary so sharp cut that many have found themselves in pieces just for approaching it. So why is it blurring now, as Eraserhead tries to keep his head low while unwittingly gaining 20+ kids, at least three Pro Hero friends and seems to have caught the eye of All Might himself, all the while his past is persistently trying to catch up to him?

It's been three weeks since Shouta had raided the Shie Hassaikai base and found the newest addition to his already very strange and very complicated life, but he didn't regret it one iota. Eri was a child in need of special care and attention after the shitstorm she'd been through and Shouta was both willing and capable to give it to her, even if he'd had to skip three weeks of both Vigilante patrols and the occasional classes he still attended. He'd even abandoned his paper, instead focusing all of his energy on nurturing Eri and trying to help her understand the world she'd been all but isolated from since the moment she'd developed her Quirk, to help her unlearn that adults will only hurt her.

It wasn't easy and they both still had a very long way to go, but she was progressing surprisingly quickly for someone of her age. Maybe it was even because of her age that she was accepting it all so remarkably well. Kids were incredible at adapting and seeing as he was exposing her only to the better sides of life to counter whatever the hell Chisaki had all done to her, she had no reason to resist or reject it.

It also helped, he guessed, that Eri had latched onto him as a source of security and protection, because she didn't hesitate to come to him for absolutely anything that might be bothering her.

That took the first two weeks to implant that idea deep in her mind and Shouta was eternally grateful to All Might - Yagi - for his unknowing part in it. By accepting Eri-chan's request to take in that one cat - now affectionately named Kuro, for the black fur he sported, as Yagi-san had updated them on two days after the cat was brought to his new home - he had shown the girl that it was okay to ask for things. Eri had taken a day to gather up the courage before she came to Shouta and expressed a fear to sleep in the dark and with the doors closed, so Shouta had quickly gotten her a nightlight and stopped closing her room when he tucked her in. For good measure, he'd even left his own door open and had woken up with a warm weight on his chest and small fists tightly clenched into his sleep shirt. Eri started talking more after their first visit to Yagi-san to check on Kuro nearly a week later and Shouta could only feel relief, even if this meant he'd have an energetic, far less shy child on his hands from now on.

But seeing as that's his goal, he's really more than happy.

The first two days had really been the worst. His purchase had gotten to his apartment in time for him to put Eri to sleep in an actual bed, something that hadn't really existed in Shouta's apartment before that. He'd had his yellow sleeping bag and a couch and he didn't need anything else. He'd not even had a proper table to eat at, but that wouldn't do for a child, now would it? So Shouta had done his best to dredge up all of his own childhood memories - or, well, the ones from eight to ten, the two years he'd spent being taken care of as an actual child by Ashou, who wasn't exactly the best dad material but he'd tried and succeeded at, at least, always making him feel welcomed and comfortable and he figured that was the first thing Eri will need once she wakes up - and get things a child of her general age group might need. That included more than kid things, such as toys, a bed, some clothes, hygiene supplies. No, it included things for Shouta's apartment that was now going to have to house two people, one of whom was a traumatized little girl who may not yet still trust him fully, despite him having saved her.

So Shouta had ordered a TV, a dining table and four chairs - they came as a set and he was neither picky nor lacking money, so he'd decided to just go for it this once - a coffee table, kitchen appliances other than the stove and fridge, kiddie books, more towels for the bathroom, a work table for him with locks on compartments and drawers. A swivel chair, too, because if he's going to be sitting there and working, he's gonna be comfortable, damn it. He also bought two big chests and two wardrobes, one for Eri and one for himself. The chests, though, both went into his room, one containing his spare capture weapons and other gear he used as a Vigilante, the other things he didn't want a five soon to be six year old accidentally messing with and then feeling guilty about it.

Mainly his laptop, some files he'd worked on for years and things fragile but important to him that he'd rather not lose. Among them were a few pictures he'd let people take of him - with his five dumbass Hero friends (Mic, Midnight, Ingenium, Fat Gum, Joke), with Kamui Woods when he decided to go solo and finished his sidekick gig, with Kronos-sensei just before the Sports Festival, the paper clipping of the Sports Festival with Shouta standing on the highest platform, gripping a golden medal in his hand, with a friend he'd lost (on the day he became Tsumiya's local hero, even though he wasn't a Hero), with Hal when he was a kid; hell, he even had a picture with 1-A, taken with a camera made by Yaoyorozu on the day he'd nearly given his life for those kids at USJ, him covered in bandages like a mummy and the kids all still in their Hero costumes - the papers meant to transfer him into UA's Hro Course, Class 1-A, an old pair of broken goggles and a speaker, Hizashi's old leather fingerless gloves, Nemuri's first pair of handcuffs (broken, now), a project Kronos-sensei had dared him to do but he'd never finished, a glass cat figurine Hal had given him, a birthday present from the Naruhata Vigilantes that was really just a framed picture of him, the Crawler, the Hotta brothers and their crew arguing over the best place to put a cat tower in their soon-to-open cat cafe with signatures and well wishes written on the back, the little witled wooden cat family of a mamma cat and three kittens from Kamui Woods as a thanks for all of Eraser's help and guidance ...

All irrational, sentimental things to keep, really, but Shouta had kept them anyways. And he'd gladly share that part of himself with Eri, but he doesn't want her accidentally breaking something and then withdrawing from him because she's expecting punishment. There will be time when he'll show her his little treasure chest, a time when she will no doubt add to it, but until then ... Well, it's best to stop a mess than clean it up.

The matter of clothes had been more difficult to solve than he'd have liked, so he'd simply texted Koichi and Kazuho and asked them to pick up clothes for a little girl. He gave them Eri's rough measurements and told them to go wild, he'd pay them back double the amount. He also asked for suggestions for toys, crayons and whatnot, including cartoons kids might like these days that aren't too violent. He got a few texts back expressing confusion but neither of the two younger Vigilantes actually have the guts to question him, which is why he'd chosen them instead of (insert shudder here) the Hotta brothers. Besides, he trusts these kids - though they're not really actually kids - to know what to get. And it might serve as a bonding experience that will, hopefully, lead to those two finally figuring out their feelings for each other. Honestly, Aizawa feels so old when around those two, who are acting like teenagers in love. Uraraka and Midoirya nor Yaoyorozu and Todoroki aren't that bad and he'd seen them all together only once. Twice, if you count the rather impersonal 'interaction' during the Sports Festival.

So while he left the two Vigilantes running around getting clothes for Eri, he instead focused on the most daunting task of all: grocery shopping. Even if it was online, as there was no way he was leaving a sleeping traumatized child all by herself after she'd just been rescued from a more than shitty situation, it all just exhausted him. And no, it wasn't because of the fight and the night before he'd actually had decent sleep just to be at his best for the raid. He just hated grocery shopping.

Still, it was all definitely worth it - even if he had to chase away the Crawler and PopStep with a stick at one point - when Eri woke up and found herself in her new home.

She was, of course, wary and timid and distrustful at first, but she'd latched on to Shouta as a comfort from the start, even if she'd not really dared show it at first. As long as he was in her line of sight, she was relaxed. Shouta knew he'd have to do something to prevent that from becoming a form of conditioning, but he figured they could go one step at a time, baby steps version.

The first problem they ran into was that she wouldn't let him see her arms, to treat her injuries. It took a lot of haggling - and a whole lot of apple bunny slices - before she'd let him just take off the old bandages and then Shouta had to do subtle breathing exercises when he saw the many cuts. From the logs he'd managed to download and then destroy the original of in the labs, Chisaki and Chronostasis had only recently begun their sick experiments, but Eri-chan's arms were in this state already? When he saw her legs, he was ready to commit murder. The only thing stopping him was the knowledge that that would, inevitably, force him to leave Eri behind and she probably couldn't handle that, too, after everything, so he'd forced himself to calm down and did his work diligently, gentle and careful. He'd nearly had a heart attack when he looked up and saw tears streaming down her face.

He'd started apologizing and removed his hands immediately, but Eri just shook her head and said she'd never felt such a kind, warm touch before.

And that's how he'd introduced Eri to hugs.

She normally didn't ask for them, those first two weeks, but apparently Yagi-san had scared her quite a bit that day he'd stumbled upon them in the alley and she'd clearly liked them even more, afterwards, because she asked for one now at least five times a day. Shouta always obliged and half the time found himself with an armful of sleeping Eri-chan that did not want to let go of whatever shirt he happened to be wearing at the time.

That day with Yagi was actually only the second time he'd taken Eri out. He'd not wanted to overwhelm her with all the noise and people outside so he'd let her stay in until she got used to him and the fact that no one was going to hurt her. A week after she'd first been brought into his home, he took her out for a short walk through a park. It was early in the morning, so there weren't a lot of people and they could easily avoid the few that were already out and about. Eri had, indeed, been a bit overwhelmed by it and wanted to go back rather quickly, clinging to Shouta's hand as if her life depended on it, but the next week she'd spent gazing longingly out the windows. Though every time Shouta had asked if she'd like to go out, she'd declined.

Then, one morning, there was a cat lounging in their window, one of the strays Shouta fed, and the little girl was both scared and fascinated by the feline. Eri had been both scared and curious, as she was with most things she'd never seen before, which was a distressing number. (Don't get him started on the adventure with his new blender.) Shouta had only noticed her distress when she'd whimpered and had immediately had a knife in hand to defend them in case someone from the Shie Hassaika had actually managed to escape from the police and had come after them, only to relax when he saw his usual - and only real - visitor. Then followed the explanation about cats and then a petting session and then when Eri-chan seemed mesmerized by the friendly, lazy feline, Shouta had told her about the many alleyways he visited in order to give random street cats the care and good they desperately needed. That's what lead to their second outing and Aizawa Shouta's second meeting with All Might, or rather Yagi-san.

Who had outright flirted with him, right there at the end.

Shouta hadn't been able to disperse the heat in his cheeks until they finally reached home and he was supposed to make lunch for his new charge.

The week since then had been a bit of an adventure in figuring out what Eri likes besides apples, because only now had the girl realized she can express displeasure without getting punished for it. She didn't like mac and cheese but mashed potatoes were some of her favorites. No pickles, but she liked tomatoes because they were 'the vegetable apples', even though tomatoes were just as much of a fruit and didn't really resemble apples in taste at all. He guessed she just liked the umami flavor from them or maybe even just the color so let her be. Red paprika was just as much of a hit but she didn't like radish. She also didn't like pork or chicken and preferred geese above all other types of meat. She liked miso ramen and didn't like katsudon - because of the pork - and she preferred the hot soba than the cold one. She wasn't much of a fan of sushi but she liked the rolls with the vegetables. Really, it was a learning experience for the both of them.

The only 'bad' thing they discovered was that she had a sweet tooth and Shouta refused to let her eat more than one candy bar a day, which lead to her learning to pout and that was deadly. It was just too cute for Shouta's heart.

Besides the food part, Shouta also learned Eri had a mild allergy to dust bunnies, so he had to both buy her some allergy medicine and clean up his house to be even more spotless than when he'd first brought her here. He also found out that she didn't know how to read or count so he set up a 'schooling' hour, teaching her some of the most basic things a child her age should already have known but she didn't due to her circumstances. That, as it turned out, included holidays, which ended up making Shouta call Hizashi and half-ass a lie about a kid he'd saved panicking but seeming to like American holidays based on their clothing. Mic had taken the bait far too easily but Shouta was just grateful that he'd had even that little bit of help.

He was surprised, though, to hear that Yamada had been worried about him and had missed him.

"You haven't made an appearance in three weeks, Eraser. Even after the USJ shitstorm, you came back in less than two. It was a bit concerning."

Shouta had had to swallow a lump in his throat when he heard the genuine concern in the loud blond's voice. "I'm fine. There's no need to worry about me."

The voice Hero had just scoffed. "Yeah, well, fuck that! Nem and I will worry anyways, so at least give us some signs of life after doing something like that next time, 'kay? Midnight was this close to crashing into Overhaul's cell and beating the answer out of him, sadist mode activated." Shouta grimaced and he was pretty sure both of them shuddered at the mere thought of that 'mode'. Gods, but Nemuri could be terrifying when someone manages to make her enter sadist mode. Heavens forbid she finds an actual masochist somewhere. Aizawa was pretty sure she'd manage to convert them back to neutral with just one session, what with how intense she was. "So spare us all and call us next time, or at least send a text or something! Don't just leave us hanging, man."

"I'll see that I do," he'd replied and that had been that.

Aizawa could understand why they'd begun to worry, really. It was, indeed, the longest Eraserhead hasn't made an appearance in all the fifteen years he'd been active as a Vigilante. Only grave injury has managed to keep him away in the past and never before for this long. But Aizawa currently had a new priority. He couldn't just leave Eri alone after promising himself and her that he'd give her a good, proper home where she would feel safe and secure and cared for. He hadn't created Aizawa Eri lightly. He wanted to give her what Ashou had given him, the only difference between him and his own surname-giver was that Shouta had no intentions of committing crimes that harm others, in any way, nor did he plan on preparing Eri to join in on his business. Yes, Ashou had always been supportive of whatever Shouta might choose to be, but that hadn't stopped him from dropping hints here or there that there was someone who will inherit the Aizawa name and, ultimately, his business.

Shouta hadn't wanted that and that's how he'd ended up packing up his stiff and turning Hal in.

Shouta didn't want for Eri to pick up Eraserhead's mantle, either, despite how much she liked him. If she wants to help people, she can do it legally, as a Hero or doctor or police officer or in the military. She can choose, but Shouta will probably discourage her from being like him. She's suffered enough already.

Her Quirk would be best used in a hospital, anyway.

Maybe he can get her to visit Chiyo-san? The old woman would probably be happy to have an apprentice with a power like Eri's, but it will be up to Shouta to teach her how to control and use it. It's at times like this that he thanks the stars that it allows him to see Quirks and how they behave when used and the fact that he had chosen to study Quirk Theory, as it gave him a pretty damn good idea where to start off with Eri's training. She still wasn't exactly emotionally stable and her Quirk is still a relatively recent addition to her life, so they'll have to wait for a while longer before they begin training. At least it's not like they're rushing towards anything. They have time.

For now, Shouta would divide his time between playing with Eri, doing house chores, doing research for both his paper and the other case he'd kind of neglected for a while, keeping in contact with his students and his usual training routine. The League of Villains has been quiet as of late, though the Erasure wielder can only track any possible movements through CCTV footage from the streets and stores all around Musutafu. (They run on a special facial recognition program that he'd developed and should send him an alert the second Giran, Kurogiri or Shigaraki show up.) His 'students' were off to that Summer Training Camp UA's Hero Course got to go to in order to train their Quirks. Yamada and Kayama were doing paperwork this week at UA so he didn't have to worry about them getting hurt on their own patrols and as tragic and horrible as it is, Tensei can no longer patrol so Shouta didn't have to stress over him, either.

Really, it had all had the makings of a quiet night with Eri watching cartoons and him doing some research on the League when she suddenly raced over to him, tugging urgently on the hem of his shirt. "Zawa-san, Zawa-san! There's a big blue fire in a huge park!"

That had Aizawa's attention turning from the concerned soon to be six year old to the TV screen, where he realized that the 'huge park' was actually a forest and a big patch of it. The news anchor, however, had his attention captured even more swiftly. Because she was saying that that forest had been the site of the UA Summer Camp!

His goddamn kids were there!

He both listened to what the woman was saying and the text scrolling down at the bottom of the screen, short and concise.

League of Villains attack.

UA traitor strikes again.

One Pro Hero missing.

Two Pros are injured.

The Wild Wild Pussycats!

Injured students.

Mustard gas!

Bakugo Katsuki missing-

Shouta jerked into action quicker than he'd thought possible. He had his phone in hand immediately and started calling numbers. Mandalay wasn't answering and neither was Pixie Bob nor Ragdoll. Tiger answered briefly to say he can't talk now because he's speaking with police officers and Shouta knew immediately that it was more for his own protection than for inconveniencing the pursuit after Bakugo. That's fine.

He'd rather Bakugo be found than take away attention from his search and rescue party.

He tried a few other Pro Heroes but the only one that had the decency to tell him anything was All Might and even that wasn't helpful because I'm sorry doesn't make it fucking better, nor does it return his fucking student!

And since no one else was giving him any information, Shouta found himself doing what he did best. He hacked into the police's systems, the Hero network, everything, and started gathering intel for himself. That's how he found out that Pixie Bob and Mister Blaster were severely injured. There was even questioning whether the man would live. Ragdoll was the missing Pro. out of the forty students that had been present, fifteen were in critical condition due to the poisonous mustard gas. Eleven others had injuries of varying degrees. Thirteen were uninjured. One was missing and it just had to be one of his kids.

On the other hand, three of the villains were arrested on the scene, caught red handed. When Shouta found out their identities, he felt like he might just faint. Muscular and Moonfish were extremely dangerous criminals, murderers, and they did it for fun. Moonfish was even suspected of cannibalism, for crying out loud! Why were only two teachers and four other Pros with the kids!? Someone like Present Mic or Ectoplasm would have been of far more use in any situation concerning protecting the students than Vlad King and Mister Blast - who was, might he add, already in questionable fighting condition after his injuries at USJ.

Shouta grit his teeth. Getting angry and irrational would help no one in this situation. Now, he had a headcount and he knew whose phones to hack. He went first for Mandalay because he actually knew her best. He was actually the only person with a Quirk that her nephew, Kota, liked because he can take them away, though only Kota knew that. (Mandalay had introduced them when she'd been at the end of her wits in the beginning, when she'd just been given care and custody of her cousin's son. The Wild Wild Pussycats had, at that point, known Eraserhead for five years and had even called him out on some of their mountain rescue missions to assist when they were sure the cause of it was an errant Quirk, but they'd never found out he had Erasure and had probably written it off as a gadget/trick/drug like everyone else. The point was, they knew he was pretty good with kids and so Mandalay had reached out to him for help, because the boy wasn't eating, was getting very little sleep and talked to no one because he didn't hate Heroes, he hated Quirks altogether. So who better to talk to than a supposedly Quirkless Vigilante who had a way of temporarily blocking Quirks, right? Logical. Kota ended up liking him and Shouta even babysat the boy a few times when the Wild Wild Pussycats had to go far away. And man, was it hard to go home and not take off his gear because no, Kota did not need to know who Eraserhead was, as that would only put him in even more danger than being a part of a Hero's family already did.)

When he got in, he saw a half finished, never sent message meant for him. She had been trying to either ask for help or inform him the kids were in danger and would eventually need him.

The other Pussycats hadn't gotten even that far. There was absolutely nothing from them. They'd been ambushed and hadn't had the chance to send out a call for help.

Vlad had called the authorities, but they had arrived too late to be of any help but put out the fire and arrest the villains. Mister Blaster hadn't done anything, as far as Shouta could tell. He had to refrain from cursing like a sailor when he realized just how useless that man had been in the whole situation. The students had done more than their teacher.

Students ...

He quickly turned to hacking his kids' phones, pausing only long enough to get Eri dinner and tuck her in for bed, assuring her that everything would be alright soon enough. (Because he will damn well make sure of it.) It turns out more than half of them had tried to reach out to him but had been stopped for one reason or another.

Midoriya's and Kaminari's phone gave off absolutely no signal, which meant they'd been broken or Kaminari had fried his while using his Quirk. Yaoyorozu had left no message, which he found weird, as she and Iida were extremely responsible and would have asked for help even if they'd had 100% confidence in the Pros' ability to keep them safe. Bakugo's signal was being blocked, but that won't be able to stop Shouta for long. Todoroki, Tokoyami, Shoji, Uraraki and Asui apparently hadn't had a chance to send anything, either, though judging by the list of injured students, it made sense why the girls and Shoji couldn't. Tokoyami, too. Dark Shadow had probably broken loose of his control in all that darkness. Aoyama had sent an almost incomprehensible message, which lead Shouta to believe that he'd probably been in a situation where a villain was too close for him to reveal the light of the phone's screen and had sent a message without looking. Koda, Hagakure and Jirou had left nothing, either, but he could see that they're victims of the mustard gas. (He had to refrain from going to where they were holding the villains just to wring that little fuck's neck.) Sato, Sero, Iida, Mineta, Ashido, Kirishima were the only ones who had been able to send clear, understandable messages, all begging him to come help them in one way or another, as though they thought he could just jump down from the sky like at USJ and save them.

How he wished he could. More than anything, he wished he could have been there for them, but he hadn't. He'd been miles and miles away, with no idea as to their location or situation. He'd failed them, simply by being a damned Vigilante and not a Pro and their actual teacher as they all clearly so wished.

But he had no time for regret. He had police reports to go through, surveillance cameras and security systems to hack and monitor and demolish whatever it was that was blocking Bakugo's signal so he could find him. If his phone was being blocked, then he still had it on him. That might not last for much longer, but Shouta wasn't about to discard the idea that he could find the kid.

He worked like that, multitasking, all the way till morning. Eri woke up and he had to get up to give her breakfast, but he took only one toast and coffee for himself and returned to his laptop immediately afterwards. He could feel her worried red eyes on him and he turned to give her his best reassuring smile, and that seemed to calm her a little, but he had to return to what he was doing soon afterwards. He was tempted to break into the villains' cells and interrogate them personally to get some information out of them, but he could already tell that they'd been recruited through Giran.

At this time, Eri turned on the TV to watch her favorite cartoon, but nothing but the news was broadcasting on every channel. Aizawa sneered when he looked over and saw the gates of UA flooded by reporters. Vultures. Aizawa would rather swim with sharks while covered in blood than stand before them for even one second.

"Eri, would you like me to put in one of the CDs?"

The girl hesitated but eventually nodded with a quiet "Yes, Zawa-san." Shouta ruffled her hair affectionately as he walked past her to get one of her cartoons and she seemed to finally relax, even though she was clearly smart enough to tell that not everything was fine.

The first day since the kidnapping went on just like that, Shouta working desperately to try and get information while the Heroes scrambled to do the same. He swore he was going to kill whoever had eventually destroyed Bakugo's phone. The signal had ceased existing just seconds before Shouta would have cracked the signal dampener sometime last night so he was back to square one on that field. (It was times like this that Shouta actually wished he was really an Aizawa, that he had some variation, if not the exact copy, of Ashou's Quirk. Ashou would have had that signal in a matter of minutes while Shouta had lost it in under an hour. One might wonder how he could hack into I-Island but not something clearly far less secure. Well, let's just say that when he hacked I-Island, he used their own servers and strong network connection, which made the job far easier. Whoever had been blocking Bakugo's phone's signal had shit tech. And, as he was starting to fear, that might have actually been on purpose. Which meant the League of Villains knew he was a hacker. Fuck. They'd probably heard about the I-Island incident. Double fuck.)

Eventually, he overheard - or, well, hacked phones and all; he was sure Tsukauchi and Yagi-san won't mind - that the Pros had some clue and were already preparing the top Heroes for a raid. A hidden bar in an old-looking building, huh? A guy with a patchwork of scars on his face? Shouta can work with that. Another half a day went by just like that and night was approaching. Shouta knew he couldn't leave Bakugo waiting any longer. Digital research has been exhausted. He can't find out anything more from this remote method than he already has. He'll need to go out in the field. Fuck.

He can't leave Eri alone. He doesn't have babysitters he could call. Going all the way to Naruhata would eat up a lot of his time and he was already suffering a shortage of it. The last useful peace of information he'd gotten from the Hero network was that, apparently, Yaoyorozu had managed to plant a tracker on a Nomu - where the everloving fuck was All Might to fight that one!? - that had attacked them at the Training Camp and that there were two locations to raid. Shouta might have to stakeout both of them. If he can get Bakugo out before the Pros come, then they'll have only the villains to worry about.

He had two problems with all of this: one, he needed to find someone to look after Eri; two, Yaoyorozu had made a bug that sent a signal to only a specific device, which was also made by her. The likeliness that Aizawa could hack it and take the frequency in time to get to Bakugo before the raid was minimal. There's also the fact that he rather doubts the League would lounge around with the Nomu looming over them. They were too arrogant and childish for that. No, that second location, the one Yaoyorozu's quick thinking - good girl, good for her - had uncovered ... That was what he'd been looking for since USJ.

The Nomu factory.

Bakugo wouldn't be there. Not if they'd gone through the trouble of taking him alive.

But he'll deal with that after he drops Eri off with her new, unsuspecting babysitter.

"Eraser?" Togata Mirio, AKA Lemillion, UA third year student and Hero-in-training, intern at Nighteye Agency, looked reasonably incredulous to open his door and see none other than the Vigilante he'd once tried to arrest for his mentor only to be stopped by his best friend standing there, and with a little girl no less. Shouta had no doubt that Lemillion didn't actually know about Eri, as he'd seen that her case file was labeled as confidential, which is why he'd picked the enthusiastic blond. He knew Togata could be trusted and he knew the kid wouldn't even realize the importance of the little girl Shouta would be leaving in his care, while also being certain that the young man would rather give his life than let harm come to her. "Wha-"

"I need you to babysit," he cut the other off before this interaction could possibly drag on into something long and drawn out. Eraserhead was kind of in a hurry. It was already dusk and the Heroes were making plans to attack when it gets dark. He's not certain of the hour, but he needs to find Bakugo and, most probably, his other stupidly brave and tenacious students, too, so they'd both be out of harm's way and the Pros', too. The Heroes didn't need to worry about children right now. "Here's all you need to know, make sure she's in bed before nine thirty at the latest. Don't put on any violent movies or bass-heavy music. I'll pick her up in the morning, most likely. Call Nejire and Amakiji, if you need. Also, if you dare tell Nighteye about her, I swear to the heavens all the way back down to hell that I will ruin you in ways you'd never thought possible."

It was clear the UA student wanted to ask him questions, and probably a lot of them, but he ended up deciding against it and set his mouth in a grim, serious line, nodding. "You got it, Eraser."

Shouta nodded back before turning around and crouching down in front of Eri, who'd been hiding behind him since Togata had opened the door. "Eri-chan, I'm gonna need you to stay here with Lemillion. he's a Hero-in-training and I trust him, so you can trust him, too. He'll keep you safe. I promise to come back for you, okay?"

"But where are you going?" The little horned girl asked fearfully, red eyes flitting towards the blond looking curiously down on them and shrinking shyly away from his gaze. "Can't I go with you?"

"Not this time, Eri-chan. A student needs me. A kid like you needs my help, just like you did, okay? I need to go get him back from some really bad people and that would be too dangerous for you, so you're staying with Lemillion instead and when I'm done, I'll come back for you. I swear I'll come back and we'll go visit the cats tomorrow, okay?"

"You're going to search for that Bakugo kid, Eraser?" Togata asked and Shouta looked up at him over his shoulder. He didn't need an answer. "I figured you would. I'm actually a bit surprised you haven't busted him out already, but I guess I understand now." The older of the two males stiffened at that, the realization that Togata knows- "Don't worry, Eraser. This will be our little secret, as long as you don't tattle on me to Sir Nighteye!" The blond reassured with a bright grin and a thumbs up and Shouta couldn't help but relax at the sight of it. He'd keep the secret. He watched as Togata all but dropped to his knees in front of Eri, smiling warmly and friendly at her, which caused her to relax some even though she still looked to Shouta for guidance whether that was a good decision or not, to which he nodded. "Hi, Eri-chan, was it? My name is Togata Mirio! My Hero name is Lemillion because I aspire to save one million people! You can call me whatever you like, though. Don't worry, we're gonna have so much fun! And my two really good friends will come, too, and we can play makeovers or watch Disney movies or play with dollies! Oh! I'm sure Nejire has some! This is gonna be such a fun sleepover! Eraser will be so jealous that he had to miss out! But! We will just have to invite him to the next one!"

Shouta watched as Togata's friendly disposition calmed Eri further and how his excitement and enthusiasm slowly started to affect her. It was heartwarming, but he had to shove that down. He had no place for warmth right now, not when Bakugo was off somewhere in cold shadows of the unknown and uncertainty.

"I'll leave it to you, then," he said and waved the two goodbye before hurrying back out onto the streets, scaling the nearest building and taking the rooftops across town. The journey lasted for about forty minutes before Aizawa found himself in the absolute gutter of the city, the place where the worst of the worst gathered, the underworld of the underworld. The so-called underground. Giran's domain, his and those like him. Hal's once playground. If one is smart, one could go in and find out the filthiest and most mysterious secrets of Japan here, but one never returns as they'd entered. People have lost themselves to the darkness they'd found in the underground of the criminal underworld itself, the place where only the worst of the worst have made their home, where depravity and pain were as common as air.

Shouta had only once entered it and he'd just barely escaped from it with his own sense of self intact. (There were far too many mind-manipulating Quirks in this place, this one literally underground facility where the black market and the best illegal information brokers made their of light heart, shaky morals and weak mind who were to go in would find themselves lost forever. Most villains are different shades of gray and black, due to some tragic backstory or something. Those who dwell here are pure black and Shouta has seen it, has been a part of this place once and only once as an outsider going in, and he'd barely made it back out. One needed a good reason to fight it all. Shouta had twenty two at the very least, not counting his fifteen years long friends nor whatever the hell it was that was developing between him and All Might.) Back then, he'd been searching for a corpse stolen straight from a hospital, a friend that had allowed him to once again believe in himself.

Today, he was searching for a boy, his student, one of his kids.

And so, he braved the darkest darkness and let it sink in.

He had a damn good reason not to get lost.

No matter how deep he went.