Chapter Text
This was not how Shota Aizawa thought his day would go.
Neither was it how he thought 1A’s first off-campus training would go, but sometimes things don't go as planned and there's nothing you can do about it.
He should have known that something would go wrong but he never would have imagined it possible to go so terribly wrong so terribly quickly. But here he was, throwing himself head first into a battle he may very well not come back from to protect the students who are far too young, far too inexperienced. The students who shouldn’t have to face a villain attack of this calibre so early.
In a flurry of punches and kicks -capture scarf flying around like an extension of his limbs- Aizawa cut his way through as many of the thugs as he could, holding off the cannon fodder villains single handedly with only the thought of the group of literal children who he has to keep safe, keep alive, fueling him. He had to push through, to ignore the exhaustion that was starting to seep in and the burning of his dry eyes he leapt into another wave of villains - having already taken down at least twenty- with a heavy heart and a silent apology to his students. Swinging his capture scarf out to grab the three thugs closest to him he threw them as hard as he could into the concrete, knocking two out on impact and finishing the third with a swift roundhouse to the head.
Just as soon as they were down and out more approached. The seemingly never ending cycle left no room for Aizawa to catch a break. The burning in his eyes became unbearable and he was forced to blink. Only then did the villain who had till now been standing to the side, observing, take advantage of his momentary weakness to dash forwards in the blink of an eye. Clumsy but quick. The villain gripped Aizawa's elbow, the sleeve of his jumpsuit immediately flaking away and the skin underneath following suit. With a grunt of panicked pain he reactivated his quirk, leaping back to put distance between the two. He took the opportunity to catch his breath and refused to take his eyes off of the villain who had managed to injure him.
“You really are amazing, Eraserhead. Even when outnumbered and out of your league you've managed to power through at least a quarter of the cannon fodder I bought with me. But in doing so you've given me all the information I need to know how to hack your weaknesses, I've figured out your tell,” the villain taunted with a manic grin, half hidden behind the severed hand covering his face, “We came to kill All Might, but I guess since he isn't here we'll have to draw him out by killing a few of your students instead.”
With another jolt of panic and adrenaline, Aizawa moved to attack, dashing towards the villain while snarling, “I can't let you do that, you won't harm a single one of those kids, not as long as I still stand.”
The deceptively quick villain dodged out of the way of a kick that he aimed at their side and gripped the section of the capture weapon that was thrown their way, the fabric alloy crumbling to dust in his grasp. With narrow eyes and another manic grin they opened their mouth.
With just two words spoken Aizawa's world started to crumble along with his arm.
“Nomu, attack.”
Within seconds a large bird-like thing had him pinned to the ground, his injured arm shattered under the force and his rib cage cracked as it threatened to collapse under the pressure the monstrosity of a thing was putting on it. Aizawa never stood a chance against the thing, this creature. Even if he had been able to anticipate its sudden attack, the appearance of it would suggest it holds a mutant based quirk which would make Aizawas quirk obsolete against it. However, judging by the two seconds it took for it to cross the courtyard and crush Aizawa under it like a bug it had enhanced strength.
“How do you like my Nomu, Eraserhead, isn't it impressive? It was created specifically to kill All Might, with strength, shock absorption and mild regenerative quirks it's the ultimate bio-engineered death machine!” The villain laughed, unhinged, “Now what was that about not letting me harm your pathetic students? Well, I welcome you to continue trying to stop me but I don't think you're in much of a position to do anything now.”
As he finished his short monologue a blur of black, green and red flashed past Aizawa, knocking into the villain leader before neither they nor Aizawa had realised what it was.
The Nomu - seemingly waiting now for further orders- still held Aizawa in place, but with a pained groan the restrained hero was able to glance up and catch sight of a small figure grappling with the villain on the ground just metres away. Still close enough to see yet too far for any detail to be made due to the pain blurring Aizawa's vision. Even with the element of surprise and the arguable upper hand that the smaller figure had, straddling the villain and striking out with vicious punches and scratches to their face and throat- the dismembered hand the villain had been sporting on their face must have been knocked off in the fray- the small victory was cut short with a pained scream as the smaller figure’s side began to turn to dust. Aizawa’s breath caught in his throat and he activated his quirk as quickly as he could in order to prevent any further injury to whoever it was that had joined the fight. Though, judging by the voice it was the local vigilante who was dead set on helping him.
“You brat! You absolute insolent brat! I'll kill you!” The villain screeched, swiping the dismembered hand carefully from the ground as he moved to stand back up, the smaller figure scrambled back to collect themself, immediately falling into a protective fighting stance in front of Aizawa.
“I’m sorry Eraserhead sir, you’re going to have to hold on just a bit longer, one of your students got out, Ingenium’s younger brother. Iida, I think his name is?'' The figure said softly, still holding their stance, “So help should be on the way, but I don't know how far it is. As far as I know the rest of the students were okay. They were all split up and spread around the facility but when I got to Thirteen the kids had mostly all made their way through the villains and were working together to stay safe. The only ones I can't account for are the frog quirked one, the one with the purple balls, the red haired one and Katsuki Bakugou. Bakugou is tenacious and stubborn, so he’s probably trying to push past his limits like the idiot he tends to be when his ego is involved. I have faith he will be okay as long as these two and the warp gate are the only real threats.”
And if there had been any doubt before the small figure had spoken, the rushed rambling of information had all but confirmed the identity of Aizawa's saviour.
“What… kid?” he mumbled, trying to look up to get a better look at Thumper posed protectively in front of him.
"Nomu!" The villain yelled once again. Just as it did before, the monster moved before he knew what was happening- his slow reaction made him wonder if he was concussed as well- and his other arm was snapped like it was nothing more than a twig.
"ERASER!" The kid screamed, arms moving in a flash and the bang resounding through the building.
"It's going to take more than a couple bullets to defeat my Nomu, brat. You think you can win a boss battle with the default weapon? I would say go level up some first but you won't get the chance to unless you get a respawn." The villain snarled as they fixed the disembodied hand back in place on their face.
"You said something earlier about its quirks, multiple quirks in one being, you wouldn't happen to be willing to monologue about that more would you? You seem confident that you'll kill me either way." Thumper quipped, voice quivering as they tried to calm their ragged breathing.
"As amusing as it would be to tell you all about my Nomu, you've really pissed me off so I think I'll have much more fun letting it kill you instead, brat."
"Well shoot, I thought you might say something like that. I don't suppose you'll at least tell me how you made it before I die?"
"Nomu, kill him." The villain laughed through the sentence like he’d just told the funniest joke.
"Didn't think so," the kid sighed, raising the gun they had shot earlier to the exposed brain and firing twice more while leaping backwards out of the way of the hand that it swiped out at him. With a grimace, as the movement put strain on the patch of fragile skin on their side, they kept the gun aimed at the Nomu
The villain sneered, "Still trying with that little toy even after I told you it's useless? You really are a noob."
"Clearly shooting it with bullets wouldn't stop it, so I would agree… Except these aren't just bullets, they are an extremely heavy dose of tranquiliser with a special little formula I sourced myself." The kid supplied, eyes still locked onto the now significantly slower Nomu as they started slowly circling it like a predator would its prey.
"This may not be enough to bring your pet down, but it’s certainly enough to slow it so I can try to finish it off myself. You made a mistake going after the students, Tomura Shigaraki,” Thumper looked directly into the villain’s bewildered eyes, “If you’d have left them alone I could have let it slip for a while longer, but I have a strict no kids policy. And Eraserhead happens to be one of the only heros worth a damn in this god forsaken system. I can't let you hurt him anymore than you already have, you absolute bastard."
Erazerhead was forced to watch as the kid glanced once more at him before leaping to action again. The kid dashed forward to the looming beast and scrambled up its outstretched arm to perch on its shoulder. They swifty pulled a rather large blade from the holster on their thigh and with little flourish they plunged it into the bird beast’s brain in the same spot that the tranquiliser had hit previously. The vigilante withdrew the blade with a sickening squelch before slamming their boot into the side of its head, using it like a springboard to leap off into a roll.
"I'll give you credit where credit is due, I guess; it definitely doesn't go down easy, does it?" They panted, adjusting the mask that covered the lower half of their face as they took a moment to observe the disorientated but still standing Nomu.
Aizawa decided to take advantage of the distraction to try pushing himself to rejoin the fight, or at least stand but with both arms broken and probably a few ribs if the throbbing pain was anything to go by, then he was unfortunately out of the fight. Trying to rejoin would just make him a liability. As much as he hated that the young vigilante was fighting alone, he had to accept that the kid could at least hold his own.
"Eraserhead, I swear to the deities if you don't stop trying to move I will personally tell Recovery Girl to make sure she only heals the life threatening wounds so you're forced to take a holiday in the form of recovery. I can handle this just, trust me. Please."
Before anyone could say anything more the swirling purple of the warp gate made an appearance next to the hand villain- Shigaraki, that's what the kid had called them, right?- and as the mist expanded then drew back into a more humanoid shape it addressed the villain and confirmed the name Thumper had said.
"Tomura Shigaraki, one of the students escaped and the heros will be here any minute now. The rest of the students have probably made their way out now too, they were taking the hero Thirteen with them when I retreated. We underestimated them and they managed to get the upper hand, forcing my retreat. We should leave now while we still can." The misty figure informed.
"We can't leave ‘til the little menace is either dead or captured,” Shigaraki insisted, “He seems to know who I am and I don't like that, Sensei might be interested in talking to the runt, but if he doesn't come easy… I want him dead."