"I have never been more proud of a student."
He'd said that to her an hour ago in her hospital room — the abbreviated window between when she was where she was supposed to be, and going on the lam. Aizawa stared out across the room of reporters solemnly, mind only half here, and wondering if Yaoyorozu Momo was going to make him second guess it.
It'd been so true when he said it though and, sitting on the edge of her hospital bed, he hoped he had made her see. Who was she to underestimate herself?
She, who had uncovered his secret life?
She, who had trailed him without him noticing?
She, who had bested him with her plan in the final exam?
She, who had the presence of mind, even when injured, to create and plant a tracker on a Nomu?
He had felt an ache as he listened to the most capable teenager he'd ever met suffer under the weight of her doubts. And now, an hour later, he wanted to know where she found the fucking balls to sneak out of the hospital to track down a Nomu.
"Do you think twenty-six victims and one kidnapped child is a win for UA?" the reporter in the aisle asked, and Aizawa heard the accusation between the lines.
Better than twenty-five victims and two kidnapped children, Aizawa thought to himself before opening his mouth to speak.
"I assure you that things could have gone much more poorly. I feared every student would be tortured and killed in the end."
The League wasn't after every student though, were they. They had targeted Bakugo openly, but Aizawa couldn't shake that the Nomu had been focused on Momo. And now she was heading right for it, walking into danger.
How much longer would this conference take?
He hated television appearances. He hated putting his face up on screens and in the papers, where people could see him and connect the dots. He hoped, clean-shaven and with his hair slicked back, it was enough distance to keep him safe.
Principal Nezu took over the conversation, and Aizawa had to keep his mouth shut to keep from correcting him that it wasn't Kendo and Tetsutetsu who had carried the brunt of having saved the students from the gas villain. It had been Momo.
Already they were short changing her, and deserved better. Would the Hero world ever acknowledge Yaoyorozu Momo for the dominant threat she was capable of being? Unlikely. Her quirk, much like his own, could change the tides of war — but it would be the generals who were pinned and honored.
Calm. He needed to be calm. He needed to keep focused, to keep his vision narrow. Aizawa tried to bullet point his plan in his head, but he felt the strain of time running down. Were the other Heroes and police on the move now, while the press was here on-campus? What if there was a delay? What if the kids made it to where the Nomu's tracker led them before anyone else got there?
What if the Nomu was still running off its orders to take Momo, and it saw her?
What if the Heroes saved Bakugo, but he — and it would be him, and him alone — was responsible for the loss of an even greater asset?
She trusted him, and if he let that happen to her…
"That is all the questions for now," Principal Nezu said, at fucking last. "Further queries may be submitted to the UA media offices—"
The moment couldn't come fast enough. Aizawa, Nezu, and Vlad gave a final bow in unison before leaving their microphones. The room erupted into chaos as reporters shouted questions at them anyway, and bulbs began flashing bright and hot in his eyes as Aizawa let Nezu lead the way out. They had hardly gotten back into the green room when Aizawa made his beeline for the exit. Behind him, Vlad King said called for him — "Eraser Head?" — but Aizawa let the slam of the door behind him be his answer.
The panic was barely contained as he got into his car and took his burner out to check Momo's location off the burner he'd given her. He'd last checked it, a brief glance, before he entered the press conference and her burner had been in motion. That had been good — it meant that wherever they were planning to go, they weren't there yet. Staring at the screen now, however, the ping of her signal was still. He checked the cross street of where she was, and saw she was stopped at an old warehouse.
"Fuck! Fuck!" he cursed, and put his head on the steering wheel. He made himself breathe. In for four, and held it for seven. Then he gradually exhaled for eight.
He twisted the key and the engine turned over, and Aizawa had never exercised such self-control before as he did while he left the school lot; obeying all signs and staying within the speed limit.
His heart was palpitating as her burner rang once, twice — went to voicemail.
Aizawa called again, but time it only rang once before it skipped to the generic voicemail recording. Anger. Disbelief. Panic. Fear. Fear as he called a third time. The line rang longer than his first two attempts, but then went to voicemail, too.
He didn't know if she was ignoring his calls because she knew she was doing exactly what she shouldn't, or if she was in danger. He was almost to the exit for the expressway as he hit redial again. This time, it rang all the way through. But he refused to give up and dialed her again. This time, it rang only twice — then he heard the sound of the call connecting.
"Where are you?" he demanded before she could even speak.
"The hospital," Momo answered, and the volume of her words was hushed. "I was asleep."
"You're a shit liar. You think I can't track location on my own burners? What do you think you're doing?"
"I'm with Todoroki, Midoriya, Iida, and Kirishima."
"That list of names should reassure me more than it does," Aizawa warned her.
"We are safe."
We are safe. He didn't want to doubt her, but he had misgivings about her claim. Safe would be back in the hospital, away from the drop zone. What they were doing wasn't safe by any measure. If it was the boys, he would be angry. Annoyed. But she was there, and instead he felt scared.
He didn't know the last time he had been scared.
"Don't bullshit me. If you were safe you wouldn't be whispering. Your tracker traced the chainsaw Nomu to the same area you're in."
Momo didn't answer.
His voice was rough, almost hoarse, as he warned her urgently, "You need to get the hell out of there. The police have the situation—"
He heard a man's voice, distant and soft, in the background.
Momo's terrified gasp curdled his blood.
"What was that?" he demanded, hand tightening on the wheel. His foot was pressing the gas pedal closer to the floor as he got up onto the highway, elevated above ground level. In the distance, tucked into the cityscape, an explosion. The car in front of him slammed on their brakes, and Aizawa yanked the wheel to avoid crashing into them.
"Momo," he prompted when she said nothing. "Momo? Momo?"
"S-Someone's here with me," she whispered at last, her words a wisp in the faraway fog.
"Momo, get out now—"
He heard her gasping. Shallow, fast breaths that became quicker and weaker with every passing second. Aizawa was through being cautious — he grabbed his emergency responder light from the center console and turned it on. Red lights began flashing bright from inside his car, and the vehicle ahead of him hastily pulled over to get out of his way.
Aizawa listened to her panting, her terror like ice in his veins. For a moment, he was just as mute, at a loss for what to do. Where were Midoriya, Todoroki, and the others? Why weren't they helping her? Why weren't they doing something? He said her name again. Again. One two.
"Momo? Momo! Momo, answer me!"