Shouta is on a race against time to reach Zero and Specter, the fear-filled words of the young vigilante sending him off in his quest to help them. And once he has the chance to do so...how can he get them to let him save them from the situation they've put themselves in?

Not gonna lie, its tough for me to delay posting my chapters as I finish them, as I'm actually enjoying writing this story a lot and want to share it. But keeping a backlog is better for my mental health so I have stuff for the future lol. Still, too excited to wait till Wednesday, so here we have chapter 7, one I really enjoyed writing xD

Shouta was already moving, his capture scarf wrapped around his neck, boots thrown on, and out the door and onto the rooftops as he ran. "Zero? Zero, where are you?" he asked, keeping his tone calm as he pulled out his other phone, sending a quick text to Hizashi about an emergency, and then quickly typing to Nezu, alerting the rat to a possible need. He connected the phone that was reaching out to her to an earpiece he kept with his costume just for communication, leaving his hand free for easier communication.

"There's, there's so much blood, Eraser. I-I don't know what to do, it's never been this bad b-before," Zero stuttered; for once not sounding far too old for her age, instead sounding like a terrified child, frantic and panicking.

"Zero, I need you to focus. Where are you?" he demanded, keeping his tone firm. He couldn't have her panicked right now, the implication of what she said had him terrified down to his core, but he needed her rational to help her.

"We-we're in an abandoned corner store, i-it's a block away from the warehouse. Oh god, Deku, Deku, c'mon, stay with me," she began begging Specter, Eraser biting his lip. It'd take him a good five minutes to get to that area even at his highest speed, and he wasn't sure that was quick enough.

"Can you get him to a hospital?" he risked asking. He knew they had a visceral fear of them and other government run agencies, but a hospital was better than death.

"I can't move, m-my leg, it won't move," she sputtered, sobbing audibly. "They, they got us Eraser, they found us, they blew it up, oh my god they blew it up."

Shouta wracked his brain to try and figure out what she was talking about, before giving it up. He had to focus on first aid. "Okay, Zero, he's bleeding? Did you put pressure on it?"

"Uh-huh. And I didn't pull it out either," she replied quickly, making him blink at the mental image. Something was in the boy? A knife? Unimportant.

"Okay. Just keep doing that, okay? I'm coming as fast as I can, I promise, just keep the pressure up, you can do this," he assured, sending more rapid fire texts with his other hand to Nezu, saying he'd likely need aid, possibly a pickup if they needed Recovery Girl first.

"Deku, please, please don't leave me like this, you can't leave me, you're mine, you can't, please, Deku please, please, pleasepleaseplease," Zero began to whisper, her words running together rapidly as she became increasingly more panicked.

She was getting more and more frantic and she didn't seem to be responding to his attempts to get her attention anymore, so he focused on running and jumping as quickly as he could, taking every shortcut he knew. A thumbs up text returned from Nezu and a small 'ping' in his ear told him the chimera was now tracking his location and would likely be sending someone out asap.

As Shouta neared the warehouse location, he finally understood what she meant about 'blew it up', as he could already see the firefighters on location. The entire warehouse they had met in before was engulfed in flames, the walls blown open like a bomb had gone off…which, going off Zero's words, may be exactly what happened. He ignored them for now, he couldn't assist with the fire, instead trying to narrow down what Zero's location was. He looked around frantically; this entire area was mostly abandoned warehouses and storage buildings, but…there! A single konbini at the intersection, boarded over and left alone.

He leapt off the roof, tumbling down the nearby fire escape, scrambling towards the building. "Zero? I'm here, I'm coming in, don't attack," he said over the line, hearing an audible gulp and stuttering affirmation, the sound echoed from within. He saw the busted side window they must have used to get inside and quickly jumped through, avoiding the broken glass as best as he could, scanning the store.

He heard her before he saw her, her panicked breathing and gasps audible in the dark, the afternoon sun fading. He ran around one of the racks and there she was, sitting against the wall, an unconscious Specter in her lap with a piece of fucking rebar sticking out of his abdomen, her hands covered in blood and pressing down on it with a panicked expression. His eyes trailed down, seeing the numerous burns and cuts riddling both of their bodies, and then her leg, her right leg twisted in a way no leg should ever be twisted. Blood was pouring out of her left shoulder, a large gash carved into it. He had to fight to not drop his jaw, realizing she had to have dragged Specter here with her leg in that condition.

He slid to his knees next to the duo, her panicked, glassy, tear filled eyes looking up at him as he examined the wound. He couldn't get a good view in the dark, even when he turned his phone flashlight on, but…it didn't look good. Mentally he calculated: nearest hospital was nearly twenty minutes away, and he wasn't sure if any ambulances were near. He looked at her and spoke softly, making sure she met his eyes. "I'm going to call for help, okay? You stay here and keep doing what you're doing, it's helping him, just hold on and let me call for help."

She nodded frantically, all traces of the snarky vigilante gone, just a frightened girl desperate not to lose the one person she still had in her life. He stood to his feet and quickly called Nezu, the other hero answering on the first ring. "How quickly can we get someone here?" he asked, not waiting for pleasantries.

"An ambulance would take about twenty minutes. The explosion nearby has completely derailed all transportation, especially as the heroes are now searching for who caused it. They don't want first responders caught in a follow-up attack," Nezu replied dutifully, Shouta somehow unsurprised that Nezu knew about the explosion.

"Shit. That's too late, he's bleeding out," Shouta hissed, too worried to care about his tone.

"Hmm…ah! Yagi is still on campus from his guest lecture! I'll ask him if we can borrow Hercules and send it to your location. Since it is flight capable it should be much faster. Should we send anyone with it?"

Shouta pinched his brow, thinking. "Send Nemuri and Ken. They are hiding in a store and it'll be hard to move them, he can make it easier. And I need Nem to keep Zero calm, she's panicking."

"Excellent idea, I have already sent for both of them, and…there it is, Yagi has given permission and has called Hercules in. They should arrive in only a few minutes. The hospital nearby is overloaded though, so we'll bring them here for first aid and then have them moved to a proper hospital the moment we can. Chiyo is already preparing her office for them. What are their conditions?"

"Burns and lacerations all over, but the major ones are he's got a piece of rebar sticking out of his left abdomen and I think a concussion; she's completely broken her right leg and there is a large laceration on her left shoulder that's bleeding badly. He's unconscious, but she's not much better, I don't know if she's even fully here anymore." He winced, listening to her repeated blurred entreaties, a litany of desperate prayers, begging 'Deku' not to leave her, to wake up, feeling every word spoken like a dagger in his chest. Kids shouldn't sound like that.

He dropped the call for now, trusting Nezu to get the ball rolling as he went back to Zero's side. It seemed like she wasn't seeing him anymore, her gaze locked on Specter's far too pale, slack face, her hands still soaked in Specter's blood as she desperately kept pressure on the rebar. Shouta tried to examine it as closely as he could, but the lack of light and her panicked state had him hesitant to try and take Specter from her.

The sound of engines humming brought his attention to the storefront, which vanished a moment later, clearing space as Ken forced the concrete that made up the walls to move out of the way. Nemuri quickly made her way to Shouta's side, a trauma kit in her hands as she knelt closer. Cementoss followed a second later, the three heroes now all focused on trying to keep the two kids stable until they could get them to safety.

Unfortunately, it had been too long for Zero, the blood loss and panic sending her straight into a dissociative state where she nearly snarled the second Nemuri tried to see the wound, curling her body protectively around Specter, sobbing into his shoulder as she held on. Nemuri sent Shouta a single, agonized glance that he returned with a nod…it was dangerous, but they had little time. He took a step back, pulling his scarf up over his face as Ken quickly formed a concrete mask for himself. Nemuri carefully got situated to catch Zero, ripping open her sleeve and wafting the pink mist towards the vigilante's face.

Her exhaustion was evident, Zero's eyes fluttering closed in seconds, slumping over into Nemuri's arms, her voice turning into a muffled plea about 'Deku'. Nemuri shushed her gently. "It's okay, it'll be okay, we'll keep him safe, don't you worry about it," she reassured, immediately pulling Zero away and focusing on the laceration on her shoulder.

Shouta and Ken caught Specter before he could move too far, laying him down to focus on his injuries. After a hurried conference, they took the risk…wrapped the rebar as tightly as they dared, then Ken very carefully flowed some concrete over it to hold it in place for the flight back to UA. He did the same for Zero's leg, but even with how gently he tried, she still let out a muffled scream of pain in her sleep, something that made all three teachers wince internally.

It was with little fanfare they carried the kids out, Shouta holding Specter as Nemuri picked up Zero, Ken quickly getting into the vehicle and began programming the destination home. Hercules had a rather large amount of space in the backseat, so luckily they were able to set the two children down in the best position they could, Shouta sitting in between the two to keep an eye on them as Nemuri hopped into the passenger seat, and with that, they rose from the ground and began the flight back to UA.

It was almost anticlimactic, once they got there. Rushed to Chiyo's office, Ken following into the room to remove the concrete before also being kicked out, leaving Shouta standing outside the room, staring at the door and having absolutely no idea what to do with himself. Nemuri came up and grabbed him by the elbow, pulling him along to the nearby restroom. "You need to wash the blood off," she murmured to him as she gently pushed him inside, Shouta taking a deep, bracing breath as he did, heading to the sink to wash his hands off.

He wasn't sure why this was bothering him as much as it did. Yes, they were kids in trouble, but it wasn't like he'd never dealt with that before. He'd always been able to compartmentalize how he felt about those things, at least until he could speak to his therapist. Always able to set them aside so he could examine and deal with them later, even if dealing with them meant curled up in Hizashi's lap crying. But right now he felt so stretched thin, so much so he didn't think he could hold it in.

Maybe it was the desperation in Zero's voice. Her sheer panic and fear and just how lost she sounded. She sounded broken, as she begged Specter not to leave her. It wasn't hard to see why, after she told her story. Specter was literally all she had in the world. She'd latched onto him, as he had to her. It hadn't escaped his notice how she called him 'my' Deku, after all. A subtle claim on him and who he was (not that he seemed to mind). Shouta doubted she even realized she was doing it.

But listening to this child beg another child not to leave her…fuck, he hated this. He quickly splashed water on his face, hoping the cold would help him clear his head. It didn't, but it was at least enough to make him move. He quickly dried his hands, using a small clean portion of his scarf to dry his face, before exiting and returning to the front of the nurse's office, where Nemuri was sitting, looking intently at her phone. He collapsed into the chair next to her.

"Any word?" he asked, his voice a bit hoarse.

She shook her head. "No. Chiyo's assistant was called in to help, but other than her arrival, nothing."

Shouta let out an acknowledging grunt. He was surprised Chiyo called in a second year for help, but he assumed she needed the extra hands. He was distracted from his ruminations by the click-clack of small feet on the linoleum floor, looking up to see Nezu approaching. The chimeric hero offered a wave as he approached, hopping up to the chair on Shouta's other side.

"Well, this was quite the unexpected event of the evening," Nezu began, his tone lacking most of its usual cheer. Shouta merely arched an eyebrow at him, sure the rat would get into what he came to say. Nezu took a moment to straighten his jacket before speaking. "Early investigations have determined it was some type of bomb, or rather, bombs, plural. Whoever came for these children really wanted them dead."

"And you're sure that's why they bombed the warehouse?" Nemuri asked, tilting her head to the side.

Nezu nodded gravely. "It seems very likely. It appears those two are much more inclined to practical jokes than we may have thought…that warehouse was not just their meeting place, it was, in fact, their home. They found a hole beneath the south corner which led into an abandoned sewer expansion area, wherein they formed a small homestead. It was fairly easy to identify as Zero and Specter's, considering the notebooks with information we know Specter had scattered about. Honestly, it was quite cleverly hidden and they had many contraptions they used to make it more comfortable. I was rather impressed."

Shouta let out a deep breath as he contemplated this. This meant one thing…whoever went after them had figured that out, which he wondered how someone could find them with how careful they tended to be. The kids were anything but reckless when it came to their living situation. He was interrupted by Nezu continuing to speak. "I managed to convince Detective Tsukauchi to let us handle them for now, but with them now being the targets of someone willing to blow an entire warehouse up, we can't let them run wild anymore. Tsukauchi was entirely willing to arrest them if it meant keeping them safe," Nezu warned, looking up at Shouta with a stern gaze.

Shouta snorted. "Good luck telling them that."

"I doubt it would work to try and force them, and I'd rather not have to forcibly subdue them either. Which is why I think this is a good time to leverage what goodwill you have with them into staying. It means something, Shouta, that when panicked and afraid, Zero called you. She clearly trusted you enough to see her and Specter at their weakest. You need to use that."

"That or I was her only option," Shouta shot back.

Nezu shrugged. "Maybe so, but that also means we're still their only option. They are in danger, and whoever is after them is apparently entirely willing to take out bystanders in the process. We are lucky that no one else was nearby, but that luck won't last."

"Shouta…Nezu has a point," Nemuri said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be honest, I don't understand why you're so hesitant to try. It's not like you."

Shouta rubbed at his face, looking up at the ceiling with a deep sigh. "Because I genuinely don't think it will work. I-I wasn't going to give up on them. I figured if we did a few more contacts, I hired them for a few more jobs, I could convince them to do some team-ups or something. Get them seeing the value of Hero connections for their mission, or whatever. And maybe bring them across that way. Appealing to their sensibilities seems like a wasted effort; you didn't see their faces when they spoke of the Yakuza, Nemuri. These kids want revenge, not justice, and I don't know how to get them to stop wanting it."

"Perhaps we don't have to? At least, not at the start. As you said, we have connections, we have data, we have access to things they do not. We can offer them some help," Nezu replied.

"Yeah, until they get what they want and then run into bureaucratic red tape or even just into the law itself. You know how it goes when you try to get a warrant against the syndicates nowadays. It never does well. And I don't think they'll be in the mood to put up with that sort of block."

"Let's not go too far into the future yet. Assuming they get out of this without permanent injury, and that is a big assumption, they'll still be convalescing for days," Nezu pointed out. "Let's just try to show them the advantages of not living on the streets."

Shouta glanced askance at Nezu. "You know…I trust you, Nezu. I do think you have people's best interest at heart. But you seem oddly pushy about these kids."

Nezu shrugged. "Their track record is most impressive. From a practical perspective, they would be an asset as Heroes. From a moral perspective, they are children who need guidance and a chance to have a childhood. From every perspective I see, having them with us is better for us and them."

"...yeah, okay. Makes sense," Shouta slumped in his chair.

Nemuri rubbed his shoulder once more. "I'm sure they'll be okay."

Shouta's phone pinged, making him reach into his pocket to see a message from his husband. "Hizashi's on his way with Eri. I…don't think she should see all this."

"They just finished clothes shopping, right? Then I'll take her with Auntie Nem for a little bit of dress-up and modeling!" Nemuri said, a wide smile on her face as she tried to cheer one of her best friends up.

Shouta gave her a deadpan stare that turned to a wry half-smile. "Sure. Thanks Nem."

"Of course."

He leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes and waiting. Emotional exhaustion had overtaken him, still hearing the echo of Zero's prayers in his ears, and silently, he offered his own up that these two kids would be okay.