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It starts with a bang, a loud booming thing that shakes the ground beneath Izuku’s feet.
And then the screaming starts.
Izuku takes barely a minute to assess. He has his license but he’s in casual clothes, without his costume or gear or even an earpiece to call for backup and he needs to follow protocol unless people are actively in danger of dying.
There’s another boom, followed by a surge of crashing sounds and Izuku looks up to see shards of glass raining from the sky, as all along the buildings windows shatter into pieces from the shockwave.
“Sensei is going to kill me,” Izuku mumbles, firing up full cowl and zipping forward to snag as many civilians as he can carry out of the way of the falling debris.
He skids to an alley, sets everyone down as fast as he can, turns to go back and—
There’s a little boy holding his hand.
There’s a little boy trembling in obvious terror, holding his hand in a loose childlike grip and Izuku can’t let go.
He tugs futilely but it’s like they’re stuck together with glue and this must be a quirk— it’s gotta be— but Izuku doesn’t have time for this.
It’s not much of a decision but it’s the only one Izuku can make.
He pulls the boy into a more secure hold against his hip in the crook of his right elbow and then he goes back for more.
Maybe if he’d realized the true extent of the child’s quirk he’d have chosen a better way, something that didn’t incapacitate his whole arm.
But how could he have known?
There’s a little boy in his arms, shaking with fright and Izuku can’t put him down.
He darts around the nearest affected buildings looking for those in need of immediate help.
Sticky kid in tow, he shifts his weight to accommodate for the imbalance. As he moves he tries to comfort the kid, “its alright buddy,” he says catching his breath. “I'm a hero in training, I got you now.”
“I got you too,” the kid says gruffly as if he has something to prove, but he knows the kid is putting on a brave face. After offering the child a nod of acknowledgement, Izuku moves his focus to the imminent threat.
Izuku realizes that some people outside are hurt, but there isn't much he can do for them now. He suggests people distance themselves from the buildings.
He heads inside a building carrying out as many people as he can with his free arm. He rushes them outside, continuing like this for several trips.
He pays special attention to be sure no one else touches the kid, as he is not sure about how the child's quirk works. Each trip he only takes half as many people as he could get if he had both arms free.
It's chaos everywhere he looks, injured civilians, people screaming, people crying!
He does try to comfort people, but without his hero costume on, the civilians seem to take little comfort from his words. When he is dressed the part, his costume automatically builds people's confidence in him.
When he gets them out of the buildings, there are no medics there to help them yet and it's discouraging.
Those he is able to assist are grateful for his kindness; however they are often hesitant to come with him at first. The kid clinging to him in terror likely is not helping in that department.
If things weren't bad enough as it is, he is still alone, and has not seen even a single hero!
He thinks that other heroes should have noticed all the banging, and crashing by now, or at the very least someone should have called the emergency line.
As he drops off some more people outside he asks one of them, “Can you please call the local hero line, and make sure they have been informed of this?” as he gestures with his free hand to everything going on.
“Of course kid, I'll call them right away. Even though I do think they likely already know. Thank you for your help young man,” She responds as she picks up her phone and starts dialing.
Izuku trusts that if backup hasn't already been sent, that it will be now, and he rushes back into another rickety building.
He is deep within the building trying to convince some people that he can help them, that he is an off-duty hero in training.
That‘s when it starts, the thing he was most afraid of. The building he took them into starts collapsing with them, and at least a dozen other unlucky occupants in it.
Izuku reacts before he can think the consequences through properly, throwing out Black Whip to wrap around the supports, a several dozen strands separating to hold up the rest of the rubble. He can only throw it out with one hand though, the other still wrapped around the kid, and he can feel the strain of it as half of his quirk tries to do the work of the full thing.
“Please move quickly towards the exit,” Izuku groans, sweat starting to bead on his brow from the exertion. There are so many strands of Black Whip and he is focusing on each one of them, keeping them strong and in place, keeping them firm, because he knows that if he lets his attention waver for even a moment and one of those strands fades away, he could kill someone or set off a whole chain reaction.
Thankfully the people who were reluctant to listen to him before are all too happy to listen to him now, scrambling for the exit. The trouble only comes when Izuku himself tries to walk towards the exit. As soon as he shifts, Black Whip and all its tendrils shudder and Danger Sense screeches in Izuku’s mind.
He freezes and the rubble stops moving, Danger Sense quieting, but the blood in Izuku’s ears is pounding now.
If it were just him, he would risk it, he would drop Black Whip, kick Full Cowl into gear and dive for the door, hoping that he can make it to the exit before the building can hit him. But it is not just him, Izuku has a kid attached to him, and he is not willing to risk the safety of the kid, a civilian, on a maybe. Izuku just has to think of another way.
“Why aren’t we heading for the door?” the kid asks, shifting in Izuku’s grasp. All around him the building strains to be released, to let gravity take its course. Izuku needs to tell him something, needs to reassure him the same way All Might would. But there is so much happening, and every little thing demands his attention, it’s hard for him to stay focused.
“Mister? Why aren’t we heading for the door?” the kid asks again. He isn’t calling Izuku by his hero name because Izuku never gave it to him and that feels like such an oversight now because Izuku doesn’t know his name either. He has no way to comfort the kid, doesn’t even know his name, and Izuku has gotten them stuck in an impossible situation. He is the worst kind of Hero.
“Are we going to die?” It is a quiet whisper, barely even voiced, and it rips Izuku’s heart to shreds.
Izuku tries to respond, but his tongue is dry and heavy in his mouth. To hear such a question asked so innocently in the voice of a child… it’s choking.
“No,” Izuku musters with the brightest smile he can. His arms ache, stabbing pains shooting up towards his shoulders as he forces Black Whip to retain its shape. “No. We’re not going to die.”
“...Are you sure?”
The little boy sounds so hesitant, pressing himself further into Izuku’s side. He’s briefly thankful for whatever quirk has them stuck together even as he curses it for landing them in such a horrible position– he doesn’t know how long he can hold this boy up unaided as he works to keep the building from crumbling to pieces around them.
Izuku hates the thought of making promises he can’t keep, but he refuses to let the boy stew in his worry either. “Help is coming,” he reassures, “remember that nice lady from earlier? She said she was going to call more heroes! They’ll be here very soon.”
I don’t know how much longer I can stay like this, Izuku doesn’t say. One of his whips begins to wobble like jelly and Izuku grits his teeth and forces it back into position. Then, he turns back to the boy in the hopes to distract both of them.
“My name’s Deku. Can you tell me yours?”
“H–Haru. My name is Haru.”
Izuku smiles again. “It’s really nice to meet you, Haru! Do you know where your parents are? I’ll take you to see them once we get out of here.”
Haru’s lip wobbles and he buries his face in the fabric of Izuku’s sleeve. Izuku winces at the pain the movement brings. “M–My dad, he was… he was inside. I think you took him out.”
Good. That’s good. Izuku can work with that.
“I’m…” Haru begins to speak up and in an instant Izuku has an armful of sobbing child, “I’m so sorry I got stuck to you! I–I didn’t mean to!”
“No, no, don’t apologize, Haru! Quirk accidents happen, especially when we’re scared. You did the right thing, trying to stay with someone safe. I’m sorry I got you stuck in this mess, but I promise, I’m going to do everything I can to get you back to your dad safely.”
Haru cries harder, his face all red and pinched. Izuku yearns to comfort him, his heart tugging painfully, but with one hand immobilized and the other directing his whips he can’t do it as he would like to. Instead, he settles for soothing noises, humming and shushing at random to try and settle the poor boy.
“No, no, no! You don’t understand!” Haru whines. “You… you saved us! And now you’re in trouble! And it’s my fault!”
"It's not your fault," Izuku tries to reassure, but his words are killed before they can leave his mouth, cut off by the way Danger Sense comes screeching into his mind.
It's as loud, if not louder, than the way the building's foundations screech around them.
Haru’s whines turn to wails, while Izuku holds his breath and forces all his energy and strength into every strand of Black Whip. The strands buckle and bend, waving like spider web strands in a breeze as the building shudders.
He feels it when one snaps, pushed too far by the pressure and weight of the building above it. It zips back to him and Izuku grits his teeth when it snaps back into place under his skin. He splits one of the thicker whips still holding into a dozen thinner ones, to try and make up the slack, but it's clearly not enough, as another whip across the room begins to bow and splinter too.
This building has decided to come down, and Izuku isn’t strong enough to stop it forever. Certainly not until more heroes get here and find them.
When the architecture around him lets out another furious, creaking scream, Izuku doesn’t hesitate.
Every whip retracts at once, unwinding from the supports and dropping bits of rubble, as Izuku spins and protectively tucks Haru beneath him as much as he can with the little boy still attached to his arm. More whips grow from under his skin, layering over and weaving through the whips that he only just pulled back to himself, forming a thick and tight ball of pitch darkness around himself and the child he’s protecting.
Without light, Izuku can’t see Haru’s teary face anymore, and he’s sure Haru can’t see his face very well either. But still, Izuku makes sure to smile.
“You’ll be fine,” he says, as the first piece of plaster and cement hits the barrier with a horrifying crack! “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”
Haru can’t seem to speak. He’s breathing fast, as he pushes himself closer to Izuku, into his chest, likely getting himself stuck there too.
Izuku doesn’t mind it. He pulls the little boy in, holds him tightly, and then closes his eyes as the building falls down upon them.
***
“Many lives were lost in the brutal attack on North Blossom street yesterday with ever increasing numbers of the injured and hospitalized being reported as the chaos is finally calmed. The villain responsible Clapper, who’s palms clapping together released massive shockwaves that affected the entire neighborhood was finally brought down by Present Mic and Herr Choo, quite literally, as the two sound wave hero’s coordinated an attack to bury Clapper in rubble.”
“Yes and Clapper wasn’t the only one to feel the pressure, a total of five buildings were brought down by the villain before the heroes managed to turn the tables.”
“Let us not forget the fallen in this moment of triumph. Join us in our moment of silence as we mourn all those who–”
Izuku clears his throat awkwardly.
“Um, do you mind turning that off?” he asks sheepishly, hand raising to rub the back of his neck, “I’d rather not think about how close it was right now if that’s okay.”
Aizawa-sensei hits the power immediately, turning to face the hospital bed head on. “Oh good, that means you’re ready for the lecture.”
Izuku flushes, “Um I guess–”
“Here.”
A small box hits the bed, bouncing lightly before sitting innocently beside Izuku’s knee and he can’t help frowning at it. “Uh what’s–”
“That's a bluetooth device. It’s small, it’s compact, it’s compatible with your phone and from today on it’s your new best friend. It goes where you go, you charge it every single day and the first thing you do before leaping into danger is powering it on and putting it in your ear, do I make myself clear?”
“Crystal,” Izuku murmurs, cradling the device close with his free hand.
“Good.” Aizawa leans back in his chair and huffs a sigh. “Any idea when he’ll let go?”
Izuku looks down at the sleeping Haru, still clinging to his right arm. “Uh the doctors say as soon as he wakes up and realizes we’re safe.”
“Perfect,” Aizawa-sensei gets to his feet and heads for the door, “that should give you plenty of time to think about your choices and how if we wouldn’t have tracked your phone we wouldn’t even have known to look for you.”
“W-Wait!” Izuku scrambles, eyes widening in horror, “Eraserhead! Your quirk, you could just–”
Aizawa-sensei grins. “Now where's the fun in that?”