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Aizawa blinked as his eyes became adjusted to the new recording contacts he was forced to wear. He was doing this for a multitude of reasons, though the main one was that Nedzu wanted to show students the hero work of underground heroes. Aizawa agreed because many of his students would make wonderful underground heroes if influenced correctly, and the world needed more heroes that didn't care about ranking or fame. The main ones coming to mind were Hagakure, Tokoyami, and Shinsou. Regardless, he had agreed, and now he had to live with that choice.
Aizawa set out on his regular patrol; it was less busy due to the fact that he was only showing patrol and not a mission. That would come later. It was a quiet night, as he had hoped. He didn't want to get the nitty and gritty part of heroics on camera just yet. Unfortunately, there was a commotion in an alleyway that he had to take care of around 3 am.
As he landed silently on a roof nearby, he saw two characters pushing a third into the wall and threatening them. He quickly and quietly jumped down and prepared to fight. In a strange turn of events, the two assailants grabbed him as the one shoved against the wall pulled out a gun and pointed it at his head.
"Perfect, Eraserhead is right where we want him. Now we just have to wait." The character with the gun said smugly. Ah, they were waiting for him, but now they were waiting again. What for?
The answer came with a shuffling of feet at the end of the alley and the call in a familiar voice, "I thought I had told you boys to leave and never come back."
Aizawa and the men turned to see Shinsou standing completely relaxed against a wall, not acknowledging the fact that his teacher was pinned between two men. The leader (the one with the gun) smirked, "Ah, Hitoshi Shinsou, just who we were waiting for."
So Shinsou had made a name for himself amongst criminals, Aizawa pondered. That seemed out of character, unless the kid was a better actor than Aizawa had given him credit for. "Let him go." The student said without any room for argument. Where was the timid child that Aizawa knew?
"The big boss wants to make a deal with you, and I suggest you hear it out."
For the first time, Shinsou's eyes glanced at Aizawa before focusing once more at the man, who still had a gun pointed at the hero's head, "Fine, what does he want?"
The criminal smirked, as if he won the interaction, "He wants you, 'Toshi! And if you don't agree, I suppose I have no choice but to pull the trigger."
"What do you mean by that?" Shinsou asked, clearly considering the offer. Aizawa grit his teeth and reminded himself not to do something irrational. Shinsou seemed to be in control, and Aizawa shouldn't mess that up and get them both killed simply because he didn't want his student to agree to something.
"Oh, dear, naive 'Toshi… you know exactly what that means. And hey, afterwards, we'll even leave this place alone!"
Shinsou pushed off the wall to stand straight, and his entire body screamed panic, but he once again looked at Aizawa. Aizawa wished that he could read his students mind or send him a message to not agree. Anything to keep his student safe. Shinsou looked down, as if resigned to his fate before saying, "Let Eraserhead go."
"What was that, darling?"
Shinsou looked up with a glare that made shivers run down Aizawa's spine. The pure anger and determination in that glare made Aizawa believe that Shinsou would be one of the best underground heroes to ever exist. The next words uttered were heartbreaking, "I agree as long as you let him go."
The criminal seemed so victorious as he put the gun away, "Good choice, little one." Shinsou seemed to flinch back before stealing his own nerves. The main guy nodded to the other two to release Aizawa.
As soon as he was given movement, Aizawa quickly took care of the thugs and tied them up. Shinsou had stepped back and let Aizawa do that without getting into the way. As soon as the police were informed, Aizawa turned to the teenager who had made sure everything went smoothly.
Shinsou was holding himself in a tight hug; his hands tightly clenching his sleeves in a panicked way, though there was no other evidence that the kid was struggling. Aizawa approached him calmly, "Want to talk about what just happened?"
Shinsou locked eyes with Aizawa before nodding at the tied up men, "They're part of a gang that used to come around here often. Often enough that they recognized me as the brainwashing kid. You can probably guess what they thought of that…"
"They wanted your power."
"Yeah… but I've always been stubborn, and I may have brainwashed the leader to make everyone leave this town alone and all that. Lately, though, they've come back for me… except it's not my power they want this time. Uh, the leader, he uh… let's just say that he should go to jail for a lot more than gang related activities."
"Ah… I'm sorry you had to go through that."
Shinsou shrugged, "Not the first time, probably won't be the last."
"Kid…"
"I'm fine, seriously. I'll talk to the police like I have every other time, and that'll be it. Then I won't have to worry about other kids going through the same thing."
Aizawa felt overwhelming pride for his student in that moment, because Shinsou showed more maturity and love than most pro heroes that were at the top. Aizawa gently pulled his student into a hug and just said, "You are going to be a great hero someday."
Shinsou shoved his face into Aizawa's neck, hugging back briefly before pulling back once again. He rubbed under his eyes before sighing, "Thanks…"
Soon, the police showed up, and they gave their statements before Aizawa walked Shinsou back home. The kid sighed as they reached his house, before sending a mock salute to Aizawa and climbing his way into a window.
Aizawa made his way through the rest of the patrol, which was uneventful, before going back to UA. As he walked into Nedzu's office, the principal said, "Ah, how was patrol?"
"We shouldn't use this footage to show the students." Aizawa told him firmly.
"Why is that?"
"I ran into a student, and I believe it would be much too personal to show it to others without permission."
"That is understandable. Now, give me the contacts and get some rest."
Aizawa carefully removed the contacts before putting in eyedrops and saying goodbye to his employer. He would have to talk to Shinsou a bit more about what had occured that night, but it could wait until the student was comfortable. For now, Aizawa was getting some well-earned rest.