7 years ago, outside an abandoned warehouse.

The night was still young. The moon was in the middle of the sky, giving light to the streets and what's below. From on top of a high standing building, a pro hero watched a warehouse. Seeing the lights from the inside on he concluded that this was the place he had been tipped on.

Putting away the binoculars he blinked a couple of times to soothe the pain that came from having his eye open for too long. He leaped away from the building onto another shorter one running along closer to his destination.

Jumping one more time he made a silent landing on the metallic roof of the warehouse. Since it was on the outskirts of the city and abandoned long ago it made a great spot for criminals to gather. At least that's what he thought he was up against when he was tipped.

"Could I get five for the porcupine." A peppy man in a suit with a cane asked standing on a podium in front of 'buyers'.

Codenames, he thought. Wasn't unusual for people like them to use codenames while dealing. It was the lowest scum of the world who came here, people with money in search of power. A power that comes with soldiers.

That's him, His eyes didn't deceive. That was one of Japan's most wanted criminal who went by Bonesaw. The man who stole and sold his way to the top using unorthodox and illegal methods. He was not your usual rob stores and steal money type, he scammed and tricked to get what he wanted. Got favors from the rich side of people and power unlike most people could dream of.

"Seven!" A man raised his hand. Bonesaw chuckled and pointed at him with his cane.

"Daring aren't you lad." Then there was a pause. "Anyone else?" He looked around at the rows of rich men who looked on undecidedly. Some mumbles went around as the hero continued to observe, waiting for his moment.

Everyone was dressed in costumes properly with pamphlets that had been handed out.

Then another hand shot up offering a higher price. The first man countered and so it went back and forth. The pro hero could hear all of this going on from the cracked roof and was careful to not make any noise. All while counting the number of guards placed throughout the warehouse. None of the luckily had firearms, and as for their quirks. If he played his cards right it wouldn't pose a problem.

His bloodshot eyes looked at the cages behind the grand man. All of them were covered in black cloths hiding what's inside, but he already had an idea of what it was.

"AND SOLD!" Bonesaw shouted from the podium. The original man who offered smiled as one of the guards came over to the cage and pulled the cloth off in one solid move.

Inside was a kid, no older than 5, maybe 7. Covered in quills from what the pro hero assumed was a mutation quirk. The boy inside seemed to be breathing but was barely active or alert.

Probably drugged to stop resistance, he realized with a sigh.

Quirked human trafficking. Ever since the world became introduced to quirks the human trafficking side of crime started to thrive. Criminals would sell off kidnapped people, mostly children, with high-level quirks to the highest bidders. The buyers usually raised the children to act as their guard, brainwashing them into dying for their cause or enjoyment.

He had delt with this before, but never on such a large scale. Maybe he should have requested backup. But now was not the time to think back. The sound of the cage being moved was his cue to go.

The hero leaped into the warehouse from the roof landing at the front. He quickly began to dispose of the guards at the front, creating a commotion from the buyers.

"SHIT, A PRO!"

"LET'S BAIL BEFORE MORE SHOW UP!"

The crowd began to scatter all while more guards rushed towards him. One stood out and reached out his hands to use his quirks but found himself unable to. They all looked at the pro hero whose eyes glowed red and hair levitated.

"It's the Eraserhead guy you buffoons! Get him!" The not-so-peppy man ordered as the now quirkless guards scurried towards the hero.

Eraserhead grabbed the binding cloth from around his neck and hurdled at the guards. He entangled two of them, using his momentum to throw them over his shoulder before elbowing a guard who stepped into attack.

The underground pro hero dodged multiple incoming punches and tied his binding cloth around the neck before using his arm to slam the villains head into the ground.

His eyelid twitched from being open this long. His eyes burned but there was no way he was risking stopping his erasure. Suddenly something knocked him on his back throwing him against the cages. Causing the cloth to fall off on one of the cages revealing a semi-awake boy.

And if things couldn't be worse his body forced an involuntary blink causing his quirk to stop. The guard in front of him charged at him using some sort of speed quirk luckily Eraserhead stepped aside before the hit could connect, wrapping his cloth around the arm.

But the guard foresaw this and dashed forwards dragging Eraserhead along into a wall. Eraserhead kneed the guard in his stomach forcing him to slouch over. Eraserhead slammed him down with both his fists, knocking him out.

He began walking towards the cages to confirm that no one was hurt but suddenly a shadow jumped him from behind.

"Do you, have, any idea of how much money I lost because of you!" Bonesaw shouted in irate. Thanks to the rant Eraserhead managed to duck the attack in foresight. Meanwhile, the villain landed in front of him.

The man in question took out his arms and suddenly bone spikes began growing out of his skin. His face grew out into a bone faceplate and his hands grew out spikes the length of his foot. He rushed the underground hero with both his arms out.

The hero dodged two of the incoming swings before jumping back, making some distance between him and the bone quirked villain. In a blink, Eraserhead's eyes turned red and his hair began to float again. But the villain's bones didn't disappear.

"What? You thought they'd just disappear like that." The villain snapped his boney fingers.

At least it stops him from making more, Eraserhead thought to himself, keeping his erasure on. He didn't know what other tricks he had but he wasn't here to find out.

The villain rushed him in a zig-zag pattern in hopes of surprising Eraserhead. He took several swipes at the hero, but it stopped after he found his hands tied together by him. Eraserhead headbutted him before delivering a kick into his abdomen. But the kick and headbutt were worthless as his abdomen and head were covered completely ingrown out bones.

He wasn't going down. Every kick, punch, slam was absorbed by his bone armor and Eraserhead's fists were seriously hurt from the punches. He had some minor cuts but together they limited his fighting capabilities. He really regretted not putting erasure on him before he had a chance to transform.

While the fight was escalating a certain green-haired boy trapped in the cage began to regain conciseness. He pulled off a dirty bind that covered his eyes and opened them to reveal that they were homochromatic, with the right one being a dark purple-ish color and the left one being a dark yellow. Leaning into the cage bars the boy looked at the fight, surprised and scared.

This is it, my chance to get away. The boy thought, if he could just help, he could finally escape.

With pain souring in his body the boy closed his left eye and focused his sights on the hero who gave him hope to escape.

Back with Eraserhead, the villain attacked relentlessly, cutting at his shoulder. The villain was too close for him to use his binding cloth without risking taking more hits. He needed to think of a plan and quickly, his eyes were already screaming at him to close.

His both hands came up to block another attack and seeing the chance Eraserhead kicked himself against the villain, finally making some distance. He huffed in exhaustion but knew he could give up; they were children for crying out loud.

Then he felt a feeling, his whole body felt like an electric buzz went into him. His pain numbed out and his body stopped shaking in pain. Because of the newly discovered energy to continue. His posture returned to before all the damages and his eyelids opened a twinge more. His hair lingered taller in the air and his erasure flashed again at the villain. Bonesaw who watched chuckled in amusement before feeling that something wasn't right.

"Ugh, I… can't… move!" The villain struggled to move which resulted in minor movements and twitches. Like a sort of paralysis. "What… did… you-… do?"

Not being one to waste the opportunity Eraserhead jumped forward taking a jab at the villain's neck which he noticed laid unguarded by bones. Eraserhead took every chance to bring the villain down by aiming at newly discovered weak spots. The villain fell to the ground, motionless but breathing.

Eraserhead finally collapsed in his knees and blinked unevenly, breathing rapidly.

What the hell was that? The underground pro hero wondered before hearing the rattle of metal.

Turning his gaze to the noise the hero was meet with the eye of a boy who he guessed woke up during his fight. The boy, noticing that he was looking at him, backed away in his cage in fear.

That kid, Eraserhead concluded. He'd have to look into it later, right now he had some calls to make.

"Adamantly done Eraserhead. But I would've preferred if we were involved in this raid." Detective Tsukauchi said.

Police cars and ambulances had flooded the scene as the underground pro hero and detective stood outside talking. It hadn't taken long for them to arrive along with some pro heroes who were already close by. The guards were arrested and put into police trucks along with the bone prick villain.

"It was on short notice." Shota Aizawa replied, removing his goggles to use his eye drops.

Eraserhead was feeling the previously gotten energy leave him. His pain returned and it felt as if he was 7 years older again. But that did remind him of the boy. It was clear to him that it was a part of his quirk, some sort of power amplification quirk, yet he had never seen one that altered the way a quirk worked.

The quirk the boy used on him gave him the ability to paralyze any targets he looked at. That together with erasures normal capabilities made it a serious hazard to be up against. Or a pain in the ass at least.

The detective saw this as his cue to leave and closed his notebook "Alright then, I'll be taking my leave. Are you sure you don't need any medical attention?"

"I'll be fine. But as for those kids, what's gonna happen to them?" Shota asked monotony, trying sounding like he had very little interest in the matter. The detective turned his attention back to him, wondering where the sudden interest came from.

"We'll look into that. Try and find their parents and hopefully return them." Tsukauchi told him, looking towards two pairs of ambulances. "If you want to check on them then feel free. They'll be transported to the hospital shortly for a checkup."

Shota didn't say anything as he walked off towards the ambulances. Meanwhile, the detective smirked at the seemingly gloomy underground hero before walking off to hand in the notes.

There were in total 12 kids who were freed thanks to his actions. But one does wonder how many others are still in this position somewhere else in the world, never mind that now, have to focus on what's ahead. A couple of paramedics were already next to the children covering bruises and cuts that came from what he shuddered to imagine. But such was reality.

Scanning with his eyes, even tho they were slightly blurry from the eye drops, Aizawa found who he was looking for. The green-haired boy sitting on the pavement with a blanket over his shoulders and bandages covering his arms and legs.

"Hey kid." Shota went over. The kid visibly flinched from the sudden attention but calmed down seeing it was a hero.

"oh, it's you." The boy said timidly. Shota narrowed his eyes on the boy and couldn't help but notice his eyes being two separate colors.

"During the fight, you did something. What was it?" He questioned, but having no prior experience talking to children made him sound intrusive. The boy who quickly gazed away upon the mention of his quirk and mumbled something together.

"I- I … it's nothing." He looked down. Shota sighed at his reaction, of course, the kid wasn't going to talk. From all the kid knew, he was some random guy who came in and beat down every single person in that warehouse. Yet still, he helped him. Thinking of something else, Shota went with a different strategy.

"My eyes can also do cool things." He said dully. But that was enough to get the kids' attention who looked at him in surprise.

Sigh, this was going to end in another case of dry eye. Aizawa thought as he activated his quirk which turned his eyes red. He then blinked after confirming that the kid saw it, ending the effect.

"So, tell me kid. What is your quirk." He repeated, though sounding much more careful and oddly nice.

"I-I can make people better with this eye." The boy proceeded to point at his right eye which was purple-ish.

So he doesn't know the full extent of it. Shota understood, but what came as a shock was when the green-haired boy pointed at his other eye.

"And this one gives me other's quirks." The boy stated.

"Gives?" Shota said slightly surprised. He leaned in now more curious about the boys' quirk. "Can you show me?"

The boy nodded and looked him in the eye before the yellow eye flashed. Seemingly nothing happened after that until the boy breathing in and out. He blinked and suddenly both his eyes turned red and his green hair started to float up. Just like his quirk did.

This kid can amplify and copy other quirks. What the hell are the odds of that? The question really bothered him seeing as amplification quirks were quite rare, same for copy quirks. But this kid had the whole bundle.

The boy in question then blinked again turning off erasure and resumed back to his normal posture.

"What is your name kid?" Shota asked realizing he knew more about what he could do than who he was.

"Izuku." The boy, now named Izuku said.

"Izuku…?"

"I don't remember." Izuku said, saddened that he couldn't remember.

Aizawa backed away from Izuku getting a good look at him. He had rugged clothes that were more thorn than whole, he looked like a twig, even compared to a child. The only thing that looked normal and healthy about the kid was his green hair which said a lot about his condition.

Before the hero could say anything else a nurse tapped him on the shoulder.

"Are you two done here? We're packing everyone in to take them to the hospital." The nurse said sweetly. He nodded and began to walk away, not even saying goodbye to the kid which made him feel… something. Damn kid, he'd known him for less than 5 minutes and now he's starting to feel bad for going without a goodbye.

"hey excuse me mr-" Izuku went up to him.

"Aizawa." Shota finished for him knowing that the kid had no idea who he was. But a part of him was annoyed at itself for saying his real last name instead of his hero name like he usually did, once in blue moon when someone asked.

"right…" the kid paused feeling reluctant to ask what was on his mind.

"Ask away kid. I don't have all day." Shota encouraged. He really didn't have time; his eyes were sore as hell and he still had cuts that needed to be mended. And he was already behind on two sleep cycles.

The kid seemed to gather himself and with one deep breath asked away, "even with a quirk like mine. could I be a hero, so nobody would hurt, like me?" Izuku said with minor tears streaming down his cheek.

Shota looked at Izuku slightly surprised and intrigued. Someone he never met until 5 minutes ago was asking him if he could be a hero. While he may not be the role model type Aizawa thought about it for real, with his quirk in mind and what he could likely learn in the future, like hand to hand combat, he concluded.

"Izuku if you truly wish to be a hero. Yes, you can be a hero." Shota Aizawa said. Before walking away, no longer feeling the feeling that bored him before.

Although he couldn't see it, Izuku's eyes lit up as the nurse walked the speechless boy into the ambulance. People wouldn't have to hurt as he did, he could help them, just like his hero did.

I will be a hero!

2 days later, inside the hero agency HQ.

Pro hero Eraserhead leaned against the wall waiting for the meeting to start. He had been asked to debrief what had happened during his recent solo raid on the human trafficking warehouse. Normally he'd be lazier about those and prefer to put low energy into those, knowing they'd let him leave with a basic explanation.

But unlike those last time, a part of him was curious. More or less curious about the boy he'd met during the raid. Which is why he was planning on bringing it up with the police chief when the meeting started.

"You know people might start thinking it's the end of the world if you continue acting like that." Midnight, who just happens to have the debriefing after him, said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Eraserhead asked, knowing what she really meant.

"Normally you're all gloomy and sleeping during debriefs. But now you're… normal." Midnight said suspiciously with a grin. "So what's up?"

"Just wanted to make sure of something." Eraserhead answered vaguely hoping that Midnight would take the hint and stop intruding…

She did not.

A couple of torturous interrogation minutes later Midnight was forced to leave as the head police chief entered along with detective Tsukauchi who held the files on everything that happened during his raid.

They went thru the basics, who'd informed him of the operation, how many people were there, confirming it was the main villain who was the head of all and this. It all checked out as Tsukauchi skimmed thru the report, confirming the events and such.

Eraserhead was informed that most of the buyers had been arrested after fleeing the scene thanks to a city camera catching most of the vehicles trying to take the fastest route away from the warehouse. They were all given the conviction of involvement with human trafficking, some even got charges of tax-fraud. Overall, good night's work.

But of course, that's not why he was staying awake for. As they went down the list of things, they eventually came to the children rescued by him. All of the 12 kids were checked out in the hospital with only 4 of them having serious cuts that'd been infected. Else they were fine, not counting the starvation and dehydration they'd been faced with before.

"That's all for the kids. Now onto-"

"Wait, what about the kid's parents. Anything on that?" Shota asked, cutting off the detective.

"Detective Tsukauchi, do we have something on those kid's parents?" The police chief asked him.

The detective nodded before pulling out a sheet of paper with all of the different kids cataloged on it. "Yes, here it is. A list of all the kids whose parents we've discovered and given back to."

Shota pulled the list over to himself skimming over the names. Only 9 kids were listed to have been retrieved by their parents. And looking closer he didn't stop Izuku's name anywhere on the paper. Shota looked at the detective curiously before speaking up.

"There's 9 kids here. What about the other 3?" He asked. The police chief followed his glare and looked at the detective who nodded.

"Two of the kid's parents were discovered to be dead about the time the police report was filed. Seemed that they didn't want the kids to have a place to return if they managed to get free." Tsukauchi said taking out two pictures of kids. Both weren't Izuku.

"What about the third one?"

"He's an interesting case to say the least. 8-year-old Izuku has no missing person's report, no clear identification and no registered quirk that matches his, even the quirk registered around that time didn't match his. I've seen my fair share of cases Eraserhead but and it's hard for me to admit as a detective of all people, but I doubt this kid will ever find his parents…" The air turned tense in the room. He had truly tried to solve whoever this kid was, but nothing. There was too little information to build off of. The kid itself was a mystery and the main seller had refused to comment on where he got the kid from.

"Where is he now?" The pro hero asked. Now he was really curious about whose kid it was.

"He's currently cooped up at the police station downtown until further notice. We'll try and find him a home for the time being." The detective informed. From his memory, the kid seemed unwilling on staying there.

Hearing the explanation Aizawa frowned. It was clear as day that nothing new was going to show up regarding the kid. That much was evident, so were they really planning on keeping that kid cooped up in the police station? Either way that had to change, especially after what Izuku had been thru, it wasn't good for his mental health to be at a police station of all places.

Aizawa cringed to himself knowing that he was going to regret this later on. But even so…

"I'll take him in."

"…"

The room went dead silent as the two in the room snapped their necks towards him. Completely caught off-guard by his request. Meanwhile, Aizawa grunted at the two's reaction. Tsukauchi even blinked a few times to make sure he was awake for this moment.

"I mean are you sure. We could arrange a meeting n-"

"I said I'll do it." Shota said, preventing the detective from babbling on. His gaze was narrow as he was handed the file of Izuku. Some spaces were blank like his last name while others were filled. While he was reading the two workers stood up getting their jackets on followed by Shota who left the room with the two.

On their way out the police chief informed Midnight that her debrief would have to wait by about 20 minutes. The pro hero looked at Eraserhead with a look that said, 'well played.' Before she sat down and pouted grudgingly. It was hard for him to hide a satisfied smirk after that.

….

5 minutes later, at the police station.

They arrived outside of the police station with Aizawa following after the two from behind. They'd talked about the circumstances that came with him taking in young Izuku. Mostly rules that applied to parental pro heroes. Some of them were a pain, but nothing good could come without some bad.

Then he entered the station.

Shota deadpanned where he saw them keeping him. In an interrogation room of all places. With a one-way glass panel that looked into the room without anyone knowing who was watching.

"Don't worry, we don't actually keep him there, he just prefers it in there. We have a separate dormitory on the second floor where he sleeps at." The detective replied with a sheepish smile before Aizawa could mouth anything.

"Follow right in here." The police chief led him to the entrance, opening it slightly for him.

"Feel free to speak to him. I'll go fetch the papers." The pro hero nodded and entered the interrogation room where Izuku sat.

He heard the door close behind him but still felt the presence of being watched. Shota sat down in front of the green-haired boy who seemed to be immersed in a notebook, probably handed from one of the officers, that kept him from getting bored.

"hey it's you again." Izuku noticed timidly but with a gladder tone to his voice. Instead of those old and worn clothes, Izuku was fitted with a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans. He also looked a lot cleaner except for the bandages around his arms being tainted with a shade of red.

"Your surprised?" Shota asked curiously.

"… yes. not many people stay around after meeting me." Izuku said. His pained tone being able to bring down even the happiest person on earth. Luckily for Izuku, Aizawa was far from the happiest. Quite the opposite actually.

"What's that supposed to mean?" The hero delved deeper.

"My daddy left, my mommy left, and now the bad people left me to." Izuku wiped his eyes. Everyone he'd ever know had abandoned him. Why would things be different now?

"And that's a bad thing?" Aizawa deadpanned surprising the kid who went into a muttering mess. Trying to deny what his previous words.

This kid.

"How about we switch to something else." He suggested with Izuku perking up. "Tell me, back there. You asked me if you could be a hero, that meant you had doubts. Why?"

"… the bad people told me I couldn't. Said I was weak." Izuku reminisced, looking down into his notebook while lost in thought.

"If you let people around you dictate what you can or can't do then you are surely to turn out weak." Aizawa said grimly. Getting his own flashback, at his time in U.A.

Suddenly both of their thought processes were interrupted by the creak of a door as the police chief stepped in with a pile of papers. Placing them down in front of the pro hero who felt a headache incoming from the amount of writing he was about to do for this kid.

"what's this?" Izuku wondered, looking over the dozens of sheets of paper.

"A choice." Shota replied almost instantly, walking up to the boy with an unchanged expression and going down on one knee. "Either you can stay here until your real parents show up, or…"

"You can come with me."

The boy's expression changed into something between shock and disbelief. Shota Aizawa was silent, letting the boy come to his own decision as this would affect himself as much as it did him.

Izuku's mouth was shut. There were so many things he wanted to say yet his throat held them in. All his life he'd been pushed around into others without a choice of his own. Now his hero, offered him a choice, something he hadn't had in so long. Like a breath of fresh air that brought tears to his eyes.

Don't tell me the kid is about to cry again. Shota noticed, then came an unexpected move.

A pair of arms wrapped around him, clinging to him like a lifeline as sobbing noises increased exponentially. Normally Aizawa preferred not to have his clothes stained by snot and tears but he'd let it pass this time. He awkwardly hugged back waiting for the kid to run out of tears.

This is certainly going to be interesting. Thought Aizawa. Who knew, maybe it was for the better. Having someone to keep him more grounded than he already was.

So I've been sitting on this chapter for some time wondering if I should upload it and thought, "Eh, why not." And now we're here. I won't delve into Izuku's quirk now but I will explain it better next chapter or the chapter after that. But it is as it sound.

PS: (I haven't decided which ship should happen or if any should happen at all. Maybe Izuku x Itsuka, or maybe Izuku x Every living thing- We'll see.)

Now with that out of the way I want to thank you all for reading and I'll see you next time!

-Sleeved Ace