Prologue Part 2
Having finished his call with Midnight, Aizawa turns to face and stare at the overbearing black hatch which laid open allowing the cool fresh air inside allowing the smell to at least subside. I need to get him and bring him out of there, save the others from going down there. Gotta check for injuries and his condition, his obviously malnourished to a dangerous extent. They must have brought and locked him here in that condition, he probably weren't going to a survive a day or two longer. As he starts to wrap the scarf back around his mouth and nose, gathering his thoughts on the one thing that matters to him right now is getting that boy out of his underground hell.
Stepping back down into the basement while leaving his flashlight on the second step from the bottom letting it light most of the small room, the pro hero approaches the boy while not being wary of where he steps, none of that matters to him, the only thing that matters to him is the cuffs around the boys wrist looking too tight for comfort. Upon looking at the boys wrists, Aizawa swore he saw the cuffs cut into the boy but there is no fresh blood on the cuffs only old and dried blood or cuts on the boy to back it up which made the hero think was putting the boy under necessary, there could be villains coming back for him any moment and only the boy would know. What's done is done, no point thinking about what ifs, back up is already on the way no matter what.
Aizawa reaches for his lock pick while examining the cuffs looking for the keyhole to get them off but there was none to be found which told him only one thing. He was left here to die, no one is coming back for him. He places the lock pick back into his handy utility belt as he opts for the miniaturised blow torch instead, the cuffs being too tight against the boy so he began burning the chain link closest to the cuff. As the chain heated up, Aizawa looked over the boys features, or what he could tell through his hair rather, his eyes sunken and cheek bones on full display from all fat gone from his face but he guessed the boy had to be aged between 14 and 16. Who the fuck could do this to a boy? Even if this kid has got into some bad business, even for villains this is so inhumane. Aizawa's anger growing, he grabbed the cuff and pulled the first chain off freeing his left hand and started to work on the boy's right. Did the villains build this basement in the last week to hide him? But why go through all the effort to hide a body? And the boxes covering the hatch were covered with inches of dust like the rest of this place so did they teleport in and out of here? Too many questions. The right chain snapped off finally, freeing the boy from the stone wall as Aizawa carefully sat him forward and lifted him up bridal style, while being careful of his overgrown hair, out of the boy's own mess and walked towards the stairs and back above ground.
Aizawa carried the boy as he stepped onto one of the cardboard boxes, flattening it and pushing it against a wall to set the boy down on to get this gag off him. He leaned the boy forward again as he crouched down in front of him, not letting the boy fall forward as he looked at the back of the boys head and he was thankful to see a keyhole to undo it as he didn't want to melt this off but after seeing the keyhole he also saw the kid's exposed back and the tattoo on his left shoulder blade showing the letters IX. IX? Roman numerals? Why is the kid tatted in the first place? More fucking questions. Aizawa pulled back out his lock pick and made quick work of the lock and pulled the mask of the kid and leaned him back up against the wall as he got a better view of him in the moonlight coming through the fogged glass. His hair which went down to his knees was greasy and knotted but was black in colour and the only clothing he had on was some loose black shorts. The unconscious boy made no reaction to be lifted into the cold air the room was filled with but that didn't settle with Aizawa to let the boy go shirtless as he took off his baggy jumper leaving him with a long sleeved black t shirt and put it on the kid as he heard cars arrive outside near the warehouse.
The pro hero scooped the boy up once more and carried him to the main entrance where he saw Present Mic and Midnight both standing there, worried looks appearing on the faces replacing the tied ones they just had at the look of the kid in Eraserhead's arms. "Both of you, go through this door to get to the main work floor and on the right side there is one doorway, enter there and the fourth door down that's where I found him, go there and I'll be with you in a second". Aizawa stated the instructions clearly and swiftly not wasting any time stopping as he walked between the two who caught the slight smell coming off the both of them while he continued outside to the medics waiting.
Walking back out in the clear night, he motioned to the two medics who at the sight of the boy ran over to him. "I found him in this state, I don't know how long he has been here for but he is severely malnourished and found him in his own mess. He might have an illness or an infection but get him on sleeping gas. Upon discovery he reacted wildly and violently, gave him a quick look over but no visible wounds I could see but double check". Aizawa again spoke clearly and quickly as both medics nodded along taking in all the information as they took the boy off his hands. He then turned and walked over to the two officers "You two, set up a perimeter and secure this area. Anything seems weird or unordinary you let me know, got it?" Both officers nodded and took off in two separate directions as Aizawa ran a hand through his hair and breathed out slowly. A long night indeed. The hero turns and heads back into the warehouse.
As Aizawa walked back into the room with the black hatch, he found Midnight rubbing Present Mic's back as he was taking deep breaths "Did I say go down the hatch? I would have warned you about the smell." Present Mic took one more deep breath and stood up right while looking from the hatch to his friend and he nodded towards the hatch "I'm going to guess that's where you found the boy?". He asked in such way that he was hoping there was another answer but the Erasure Hero slight nod confirmed it. Aizawa looked at Midnight and saw her connecting the same dots he has already connected and began to explain his thoughts to the two. "As you saw, that boy is on deaths door, two more days and he was dead. Malnourished to the point all fat was used as little food for the body. For that condition to be that bad, he was brought here like that, and recently too."
Present Mic's eyebrows furrowed and a confused expression followed on his face. But for the smell to be this strong, and the mess that was down there, he had to have been here longer than that. I only caught a glimpse but the dried blood on his cuffs looked to be a few weeks old, unless he was brought here in them? But that still doesn't explain the mess down there. He looked to Aizawa and Midnight and voiced his concerns, even if they've already thought about it. "But if he was brought here in that condition recently, how does that explain the smell and the mess made? Hell, even in that condition there is no way that boy was making that amount of mess." It's impossible and they know that, the boy didn't have anything to convert to even need the use of a bathroom.
Midnight spoke out calmly as she could, even as she was shaken by the nightmare of what has happened, the same as all three of them were "Is there anything down there to identify the kid? Jesus, to identify anything? The person behind this or helped them?". Aizawa thought back, he took a good enough look in that room, a room that will probably be in his head for a while. "Nothing, the walls and stairs were cemented, no light source or even a window or a vent. The kid must have been running low on air too. Only other thing in that room was the chains mounted to the wall connected to the kid." He paused and look at the other two faces filled with mixed emotion, some sadness for the boy and the situation and some anger for whoever did this. "Only thing he had on him was some black shorts and something we could try and identify him with is a tattoo of the number nine in black roman numerals which is my speculation."
"From outside the hatch, this whole place seems like it hasn't seen a person in a year. The boxes covering it was covered in a thick layer of the dust and the door was locked to this room, all others weren't. When I took this task, I looked into the building plans and this hatch didn't exist." It all points to the boy being here for much longer than what was possible, they're both smart enough to connect the dots too. "The only thing I can think is that a villain was teleporting through his quirk or even someone else's and giving him the bare minimum required to survive and that gives us another question. Why?"
All three pro heroes stood there, thinking, hoping one or the other could see something they couldn't but no answers were coming to them. Present Mic was the first to rub his head and sigh, folding his arms in frustration "The way I see it, the only answers we are getting is from the boy in question, he knows who put him there, he knows why and he knows how his alive." Aizawa looked at Mic for a second, running through his head one last time but no answers or scenario was coming to him and from turning his head to look at Midnight, neither was it for the female hero either. "You're right, Hizashi, but you saw the boy's condition, we can't question him till his ready and when I discovered him, he reacted violently. I will follow the boys condition and when he is ready, me and Midnight will question him, if he does get violent then Midnight can put the boy under again and reevaluate how we do this." With that, Aizawa turned and started to walk out as the other two quickly followed, all three not wanting to spend another second next to that hatch.
Arriving outside, the lack of an ambulance there unsettled Aizawa and he looked at the two officers by there car for answers. Officer Yui, a short woman sporting only one eye giving her a cyclops look, stepped and looked up to the pro hero to give him the updates "Eraserhead, the perimeter is secure with nothing out of the ordinary with it being in the woods and all. The ambulance spent a minute looking over the boy but claimed the boy's condition was the closest to death either them have seen, they checked him over and claimed the boy had no fever but with how he was, they wanted the experts to take a look at him." Aizawa stood for a minute absorbing all the information as did the two behind him and asked "Do you know where they were heading?"
"I believe they mentioned the closest hospital would be Musutafu Health Institute, would you be needing a ride back into the city?" She asked out loud for all three to know it was open to all of them as they were the ones who brought Midnight and Present Mic both here. "All three of us would appreciate it, thank you" Present Mic spoke up and nodded as he placed a hand on Aizawa's shoulder, sending the message there was nothing else that he could do here which Aizawa nodded back to Officer Yui, accepting the ride.
As all three heroes were sat in the back, trying to keep the usage of space fair, Aizawa sat and thought as he watched the passing streetlights on the highway. I'll make a quick visit to the hospital and advise them to be cautious, don't want any of them to get hurt because I didn't relay the fact he got violent, even if he thought I was the one who put him there or one of them. I'll check on his condition and then give it a week, let him recover a bit before questioning him to find who could do this. I'll recheck the land leases, the building paperwork, search for anyone who could be questioned on the monster that could do this. The police car continued down the highway, as night time started getting lighter and the city of Musutafu could be seen in the distance.
-— -— -— -— -—
Somewhere, someone watched what unfolded through the security cameras of the warehouse which were made to look worn out and unused, he watched as the boy was taken out from his whole through a secret camera, impossible to see in the already dark room. They leaned back into their comfortable leather chair and smiled. "Finally".