So this took a completely different turn from what I was planning but I like it.

Chapter 4: Fear

Midoriya flinched, eyes wide as he saw the monster, Nomu the decay-quirk villain had called it, slamming their teacher into the ground. He saw movement from the corner of his eye and glanced over to see the hooded villain who had yet to do anything other than watch. They seemed to fidget beneath their cloak, eyes flickering behind the mask from their teacher to Nomu to the other villains.

At Aizawa-sensei's scream of pain, Midoriya turned his attention back to their teacher only to have his attention drawn back immediately.

"That is enough!" The hooded villain, a woman based on their voice, yelled out, stalking towards the monster holding down their teacher. "Nomu! Release!" The monster immediately let go of Aizawa-sensei's head and took a few steps back.

"Pathos, this isn't the time for one of your wimses," the blue haired villain hissed at the hooded figure. She was named Pathos?

The woman looked over her shoulder. The white mask covered her features, but the golden glare of her eyes was very telling of her anger. "Say one more word, Tomura, and you will regret it." She looked away from him, making her way towards their teacher. Midariya made a hesitant move forward in the water. Should they stop them? Before he could make his mind up, the woman spoke again.

"I told you, I couldn't care less what you do with the symbol of peace, but if you touch what is mine, I'll kill you. I specifically warned you, Tomura." She paused in her rant as she knelt down beside the unconscious teacher. "I told you if Aizawa-san was hurt…" Her hand, uncovered and pale in the bright lights of the building, appeared from behind the cloak, gently moving some of Eraserhead's hair. A groan from the man followed. She sighed softly. "Oh thank god, you're alive."

"Pathos!" The blue-haired villain, Tomura?, hissed in anger. "That's not fair! You can't just leave the party in the middle of a dungeon! What about Master?!" The word sent a chill down Midoriya's spine. There was someone even higher than them?

The woman gently adjusted Aizawa-sensei, laying his head on her lap, before looking back at Tomura. "Grandfather can do whatever he pleases. I am taking a page out of his book and doing what I please."

Suddenly, the warp villain appeared informing the villains of the escape of one of the students. As the blue-haired leader began to rant about their failure, the warp villain studied Pathos as she combed through the hero's hair, realizing something had happened while he was gone.

"Before we leave, let's smash some of his pride as the Symbol of Peace," Tomura stated out loud as he turned toward the students hiding in the water.

As the man ran at the children, Pathos felt Aizawa shift as if to get up and protect his students, but she held him down gently. With a shift of her own, she instead turned her own quirk on her leader.

Before the man could touch the girl he seemed to be aiming for, he fell into the shallow waters edge, his screams echoing around them. The students, suddenly reacting from their frozen state of fear, scrambled back. The green haired boy got between the girl and the villains in a laughably heroic gesture.

"Pathos." The man seemed to gasp out in between his incoherent screaming. "Pathos!" He yelled louder. "Stop!" In the sudden stillness and quiet that followed, everyone could see Nomu holding the hooded villain around the throat. The woman made a surprised sound, though it was choked off by the hold.

The villain was finally able to stand, gasping and muscles twitching from the after effects. He turned his sights back on the students, but the heroic boy jumped forward with a yell activating his own quirk. However, as the dust cleared from his attack, a look of horror appeared on the students' faces as they realized that Nomu had released Pathos and had taken his attack without any damage. Before they could do anything more, the wall of the building crumbled, revealing All Might.

"It's fine now. I am here."

"It's alright, Aizawa-san," the oddly familiar voice whispered in his ear. "All Might has arrived. Your kids are safe."

Shota had been in and out of consciousness since that Nomu creature had broken his arms. He remembered this same voice, yelling something that he couldn't comprehend through the ringing in his ears. It had been followed by the villain who had injured his elbow… Something about a "pathos." At that point, gentle hands moved him and he allowed himself a moment to slip into the darkness. The next moment he remembered was the same villain saying something about smashing All Might's pride, and he knew immediately his students were in danger. Those same gentle hands were still holding him but he tried to resist, tried to turn his head to do something, anything. But the hands stopped him… followed by the villain's screams.

"Stop!" The villain's screams took away the gentle hands, and for a moment Shota opened his eyes to see the Nomu standing over him, holding up a different figure, its hand around their throat. The figure kicked at the Nomu in a futile attempt to be released. Shota had almost been able to force himself up to help when Nomu was suddenly gone and the figure fell beside him, coughing.

He recognized them suddenly as the villain in the cloak and mask who had stood behind the others, next to Nomu. The mask slipped down a moment and Shota thought he saw Mira behind it before his vision darkened as he fought to keep conscious.

The gentle hands were back, adjusting his position again to something more comfortable as the familiar voice told him of All Might's arrival. He tried to stay conscious. He really did. But after the day he had, he really just wanted his sleeping bag. "Rest," was the last thing he heard from the voice.

All Might was not happy. He felt this was all his fault for skipping out on the training. If he had been here, none of this would have happened. Scanning the area, he immediately identified Midoriya and a few other students who were too close to some villains for his liking. There was also Aizawa. Aizawa was surrounded by and covered in blood as he lay unconscious on an unfamiliar figure's lap. The figure was hunched over the man in an oddly protective manner but the way the other villains were ignoring them suggested they were on the wrong side. Thirteen was injured as well, though she appeared to be conscious and surrounded by students rather than villains, unlike the other teacher.

All Might wasted no time in first retrieving his injured coworker, taking out any villain in his path.

The hooded figure made a gasping sound as he grabbed them by their cloak with one hand, and cradled Aizawa's injured form with the other. He immediately identified the severity of his injuries and his unconscious state.

"Pathos!" Give her back!" The blue haired villain complained immediately. All Might realized that the figure he grabbed was definitely a villain.

With as much care as he could, he threw Aizawa onto his shoulder, but did not extend the same care to the hooded villain. The villain gave a grunt of protest as their stomach collided with his shoulder harshly before he sped past the other villains to save the three stranded students.

As he got them far away from danger, he placed the students and aizawa down but kept a firm grip on the villain who surprisingly showed no resistance.

At some point the villain's mask had fallen off and the hood pulled away, showing a young woman's face. She looked around sharply, eyes straying on Aizawa's form longer than All Might was comfortable with.

"You know, the man-handling wasn't necessary. I would have come willingly." The woman chimed in, but All Might wasn't going to risk anything. Not with his tired students and injured coworkers. Before the woman could make any move, he hit her head in a practiced move, only enough power to knock her out rather than kill. Woman fell to the ground in a heap only moments later.

"Everyone, go to the entrance. I'm leaving Aizawa and this captured villain to you."

All Might breathed a sigh of relief as the other teachers arrived just in time. The battle had been much harder than he had expected. The Nomu threat was gone, but the other villains were now getting back up and ready for a fight. The students were in danger.

He took a shaky breath as he looked back at the villain with the hands and the warp villain.

"Aw man, they're here already." The blue haired one growled "It's game over now." He took a few steps back. "Master is going to be very unhappy that Pathos isn't with us." Before they could retreat, Snipe fired a few more rounds, but most were lost as the warp villain wrapped around the leader and retreated.

Pathos. They had said that name a few times before and during the fight too. He assumed it was the woman they'd captured.