Chapter Text
Aizawa was less than happy about being assigned this mission. He and a few other underground pros had been tasked with infiltrating Yokohama on a recon mission. They were told to take note of “anything of interest” which was code for anything the HPSC would find “interesting.” Regardless of Aizawa’s thoughts on the matter, here he was, having just snuck through a recently identified hole in the barrier between Yokohama and the rest of Japan.
Yokohama looked incredibly average. Typical buildings and streets, though this edge of the city seemed quiet, maybe even abandoned. He and the other pros crept through the streets, keeping quiet as they went. They eventually tucked down an alley which led them to a seeming warehouse district, which seemed even more abandoned than the streets they’d just come from. Signaling towards the closest warehouse, the pros began searching.
They went in and out of warehouses searching for anything of note, though their efforts seemed to be pointless. Most of the warehouses were completely empty, and the few that weren't completely barren weren’t filled with anything out of the ordinary. Aizawa sighed as they entered the next building, before freezing upon entry. While the last few warehouses had been coated in thick layers of dust on the inside, there were signs of disturbance upon immediately entering this one. Aizawa signaled to his companions to stop their movement, and gestured at the disturbance. Upon seeing what he was gesturing at, they nodded, and together they crept into the building, cautious of anything or anyone they might come across.
The first few rooms they entered were as bare as the rest, but upon entering one room in particular, they came across something which made their advance come to a sudden halt. The room was filled with a number of what appeared to be cages, all of which were empty except for one, which seemed to hold a figure.
Cautiously, Aizawa approached the cage, and once he finally laid eyes upon what was inside he took in a sharp breath. Inside the cage was a child who seemed to be around 12 or 13 curled in on themself. That in itself was alarming, but what really made dread begin to creep through Aizawa’s veins was the state of the child. They were barely in anything at all, seemingly only wearing what looked like a pink lingerie set. And bruises, the child was covered in them. They were all over, but particularly concentrated around the child’s wrists and… on the inside of their thighs.
Aizawa’s sharp intake of breath seemed to wake up or alert the child to his presence, as upon hearing the noise, the child shot up, throwing themself to the back of the cage, wide eyes staring at Aizawa with pure terror. Aizawa took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking to the child. “Hello,” he spoke softly, crouching down to the child’s level. The child said nothing in return, maintaining the intense gaze of fear directed at Aizawa.
“My name is Aizawa Shouta, what’s your name?” he asked gently, trying to get a response of any kind out of the kid, which he did not receive. Aizawa looked at the lock on the cage then back at the child, a question forming on his lips. “Do you want out of there?” he asked, trying to keep his tone as nonthreating as possible. The child gasped before frantically shaking his head, clutching at the back of the cage as he did so. “Alright,” Aizawa said placatingly, sitting silently with the child for a few minutes.
He could tell his companions were unsure of what they were meant to do in a situation such as this, hovering near the back of the room. After a few more minutes of silence, Aizawa addressed the child again,” Can I take the lock off? You don’t have to come out.” The child didn’t give him a response, and after a minute, Aizawa slowly moved forwards, hands slowly picking up the lock, before picking it until he heard a click. The child tensed as he removed the lock, but as soon as it was off, Aizawa took a wide step back, lowering himself to fully sit on the floor this time. The child’s eyes remained wide, though a look of what might’ve been surprise or confusion also colored his expression, and after a few minutes of Aizawa doing nothing but sitting in front of him, he eventually let go of the metal bar he’d been clutching onto.
Good, Aizawa thought, thinking of what he should do next. He remained silent again for the next few minutes, trying to keep his eyes on the child without staring them down. He could see them twitch every few seconds and their eyes flickered over the room. Then, suddenly, the child sprung forward, bursting out of the cage before, to Aizawa’s surprise, floating to the ceiling, and pushing themself into a corner. Aizawa blinked, processing the new information. It wouldn’t be a problem getting the child down with his quirk, but he would much prefer if the child would come down willingly.
Over the next few minutes, the child seemed to calm down slightly, likely because of the perceived safety that no one could reach them on the ceiling. Aizawa took this as his opportunity to speak again. “Could I get your name?” he asked again gently. The child’s gaze was instantly focused back on him, face more unsure than fearful. After a few seconds, a response came so quietly Aizawa almost missed it. “Chuuya…” the child croaked out, voice scratchy. “It’s nice to meet you Chuuya,” he spoke gingerly, not trying to frighten the child and undo the small amount of progress he’d managed to make. Chuuya seemed to hesitate before giving a slow unsure nod towards Aizawa.
“We want to help you,” Aizawa began slowly. “I understand why you don’t trust us, but neither I nor any of my colleagues,” he said, gesturing to the pros who still had yet to move from the back of the room,” want to hurt you. We only want to help.” Chuuya looked at him with an unsure gaze, like he wanted to believe him but didn’t fully. A sudden thought crossed his mind, and Aizawa quickly removed his sweatshirt, leaving only the tanktop on beneath. He could hear Chuuya’s breath hitch as he did so, and was quick to fold the shirt before holding it out as an offering to the boy. “Here, if you want to.. Cover yourself,” he spoke softly.
Chuuya looked at him for a while with an analyzing gaze before he suddenly shot towards Aizawa, grabbing the sweatshirt, before quickly returning to his corner of the ceiling. He quickly shoved the sweatshirt over his head, and it fell down nearly to his knees. Chuuya pulled it down as far as it would go, before looking back to Aizawa and mumbling out an almost inaudible, “Thank you sir…” “It’s no problem kid, and no need to be so formal with me.” Chuuya looked hesitantly away from Aizawa before meekly responding, “O-Okay…”
The room remained silent again for the next few minutes, Aizawa making sure to keep his gaze directly off of the kid still pushed into the corner of the ceiling. “Did-” Chuuya suddenly whispered, “Did Zankoku-Sama send you?” His eyes shot to meet with Aizawa’s as he asked his question. Aizawa was unsure who exactly this ‘Zankoku-Sama’ was, but he definitely seemed involved with Chuuya’s.. situation. “No, I don’t know who that is. We just want to help, I swear kid,” Aizawa said, trying to placate the boy. Chuuya still looked unsure but it seemed like his resolve was lessening by the minute. “You- you promise..?” Chuuya whispered shakily, meeting eyes with Aizawa once again. “I promise kid, swear on my life we really only want to help.” Chuuya remained quiet for a moment before nodding and saying a quiet, “Okay…”
“Would you be willing to come down from the ceiling now?” Aizawa asked tentatively. He didn’t want to scare the boy off but he really wanted to get him out of here and get him some medical attention. Chuuya seemed to hesitate before he slowly lowered himself from the ceiling to the ground. As the boy reached the ground and put weight on his legs he gasped and stumbled before his quirk seemed to activate again and he floated a few inches off of the ground. Aizawa grimaced, his need to get the boy some medical attention increasing tenfold.
“Would you like me to carry you?” Aizawa asked, “You seem to be in pain when you put pressure on your legs.” Chuuya rapidly shook his head, mumbling out, “No, no touch please, no touch please-” “Alright, I won’t touch,” Aizawa interrupted, cutting off the boy. The boy shut his mouth quickly and looked away from Aizawa. Aizawa took a deep breath before continuing, “Could we get you out of here now?” he asked, looking at the boy for a reaction. He seemed to hesitate before eventually nodding and looking to Aizawa for where they were going.
Aizawa gestured for his colleagues to go first. It was clear they were done for now, this took precedent over whatever the HPSC had them looking for. They began walking towards the exit and Aizawa slowly followed, looking towards Chuuya as he did so. Eventually, Chuuya began slowly trailing behind the group, still floating a few inches off the ground and looking as if he was prepared to flee at any second.
They made their way through the warehouse district, eventually ending up on the street leading to the gap in the border they originally broke through. The other pros he came with were just approaching the gap, looking at him seemingly for approval to go through. He nodded at them and looked back at Chuuya. The boy was trailing a few feet behind him, and looking around as they moved. Aizawa wasn’t sure but it looked as though the boy was taking everything in for the first time. As if he’d never left that building. The possibility made him sick and he quickly cleared the thought from his mind, as well as the others of what exactly Chuuya had been made to do in that building, and what had been done to him.
By the time the two made it to the gap in the barrier the rest of Aizawa’s colleagues had already made it through. Hopefully they were going to get a car, Aizawa didn’t want the boy to strain himself any more than he likely had using his quirk to stay floating for this long. Aizawa came to a stop and turned around to fully look at Chuuya. “This is the gap between the barrier. Would you like to go through first or would you like me to?” Aizawa asked softly, gauging Chuuya for his reaction. The boy’s arms rose up to hug his chest. “May.. may I go last..?” Chuuya asked, and Aizawa sadly smiled at the boy who was so clearly still terrified of him but was going with him anyway. “Of course,” Aizawa said, positioning himself to fit through the gap.
“Once I’m through, you can follow, alright?” Aizawa asked, looking at Chuuya who shakily nodded. Aizawa returned the nod before shoving himself through the gap, quickly righting himself and taking a few steps back from the hole to give Chuuya room to come through. For a few moments he worried the boy wasn’t going to follow, that he’d take this opportunity to flee back deeper into Yokohama where he could be taken back to where they’d just rescued him from.
To his relief, he soon saw a small foot poke through the hole, quickly followed by another, and then shortly after by Chuuya himself. Chuuya took a deep breath before uprighting himself, though notably still using his quirk to float just above the ground. The sound of a car approaching got both of their attention, with Chuuya whipping his head up at the sound of the noise, and Aizawa sighing in relief.
“Kid, you seem.. injured,” Aizawa said plainly, the boy looking away from him and crossing his arms over his chest. “Could we take you to a hospital to get checked out, we just want to make sure you’re not hurt.” As soon as he said the word hospital, Chuuya’s eyes blew wide again. “No- no hospital, no hospital please, I’ll be good, please no hospital please-” Chuuya rambled before Aizawa interrupted him. “Alright, alright no hospital,” he placated, waiting for Chuuya’s breathing to slow before continuing.
“I still want to make sure you’re alright, would it be okay if I brought you to my colleague instead? She’s a doctor but she doesn’t work in a hospital, would that be okay? She’d probably be able to check over you in a classroom instead of her office if you don’t want to be there. Does that sound alright?” Chuuya looked at the ground, seemingly contemplating over Aizawa’s words. The kid’s feet shifted and he let out a hiss and one of his legs lowered and made contact with the ground before he quickly pulled himself up again. “Alright…” Chuuya said, almost inaudible. Aizawa nodded, gesturing towards the car. “We’d need to take a car to get there, would that be alright? You could pick who rides with you if that makes you feel more comfortable.” Chuuya remained silent before nodding shyly.
“Alright, who would you like to take you there,” Aizawa asked. “You can just point if that’s easier,” he added, and watched as Chuuya nodded again at his words. Chuuya took a deep breath before pointing at Aizawa and one of the pros standing outside the car. Aizawa noted, with a sick feeling deep in his gut at the implications of Chuuya’s choice, that the other pro he had picked was the only woman on the mission.
Aizawa signaled for the woman to approach, and with a quick quiet explanation, the woman opened the back door for Chuuya to climb in. The boy did so hesitantly, hissing as he made contact with the seat, before quickly cutting himself off. Aizawa tried not to feel sick at the implications of where the boy’s pain was as he opened the driver’s side door of the car and climbed in. They were heading to Chiyo, and she’d be able to help him once they got there. He took a deep breath as the other pro climbed into the passenger seat next to him. He glanced at Chuuya in the rearview mirror, who was hugging his arms across his chest tightly. He forced his eyes away from him as he started the car and pulled off towards UA.
—
As the car drove off Chuuya stared out the window. Well that was easy, he thought, holding back a chuckle at how easy it was to fool the so-called “Pro Heroes.”